Schemas for a notification platform and related information services

ABSTRACT

Described is a schema-based notification platform that provides regularized notification handling including user control and normalization of the operation of policies across different information types and contexts. Information-service schemas and services are combined to build a content-sensitive and context-sensitive information service to communicate information to recipient devices of users that subscribe to those services. An information agent service collects the information, and based on various criteria, determines if, when, and how to send and render the information, and to which subscribing client device or devices. The set of schemas include a notification schema that represents the subscription of a service to an information source and details about that information, and a device schema that represents information about user devices. The information agent service accesses criteria including user preferences and user contextual information, including presence information, location information, and schedule information along with people and groups data and extended-context data. Preferences about subscriptions and information handling policies may be stored and used at notification sources or in more central preference encodings. Access to multiple preferences is maintained, and a user interface is provided that allows users to inspect and control multiple subscriptions in one conceptual place.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/017,680, which claims priority to U.S.provisional application Ser. No. 60/275,809, filed Mar. 14, 2001, whichare hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to computer network data access, andmore particularly to systems, methods and data structures for accessingdata and data-related services over a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many types of data that users need to manage and otherwiseaccess. For example, users keep word processing documents, spreadsheetdocuments, calendars and schedules, telephone numbers and addresses,e-mail and voice messages, financial information and so on. Users alsowant to regularly receive information from various sources, such astelephone calls, email and other readable messages, pages, alarms and soforth. Users may access this data on demand by requesting it fromstorage, or the data may be sent in real time to the user, e.g., as atext message on a pager, or as graphics or voicemail on a portablecomputing device.

In general, users receive and maintain such varied information onvarious devices, including personal computers, hand-held computers,pocket-sized computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones andother electronic devices. At the same time, each typical user'ssituation is regularly changing. In most cases, the various sources ofinformation have no idea of what the user is doing at a given time, whatdevice is accessible to the user and/or what the user would prefer. Forexample, a user may prefer not to receive a cellular telephone call at arestaurant unless the call is an emergency, but can either leave thephone on and risk receiving other calls, or turn the phone off and riskmissing the emergency call. Vibrate modes and the like can reduce thedistraction, but can be missed because of inadequate alerting, and/orcan still lead to regular interruptions from non-emergency calls.

What is needed is a platform that provides information to users frompossibly many disparate information sources, in a manner that takes intoaccount each user's current situation and which recipient device ordevices is currently accessible to the user, and/or determined to bebest for the user's current situation. The platform needs to bescalable, extensible and allow for considerable control orpersonalization by each user. Further, the various data that areexchanged should be well defined, so that for example, a user's currentsituation can be described in a way that is consistent, or anotification from an information source is received and handled the samenormalized way, regardless of the source.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, the present invention provides a method and system for usingvarious data formats and/or schemas and services to provide regularizednotification handling, and provide an opportunity for user control andnormalization of the operation of policies across different informationtypes and contexts. The information-service schemas and services arecombined to build a valuable, general purpose content-sensitive andcontext-sensitive information service that provides a notificationplatform. In general, via the notification platform, informationservices communicate information to recipient devices of users thatsubscribe to those services by formatting the information according todefined schemas. An information agent service collects the information,and based on various criteria, such as one of more of the content athand, context of the user, and a user's stored preferences aboutnotifications, determines if, when and how to send the information, andto which subscribing client device or devices.

The set of schemas include a notification schema that representsmetadata about the subscription of a service to a source of information,as well as representing details about that information, including thenature, importance, time criticality or urgency of information,disposition over time of information provided by a message, and messagehandling preferences. A device schema describes metadata that representsinformation about one or more devices (e.g., user devices) that areenlisted or provisioned by a service. The device schema represents thedata directed to various device properties, including information usedby the information agent service about the connection, the renderingabilities, and interactive abilities of devices.

The information agent service accesses criteria including userpreferences, arranged according to a schema that provides a standardizedformat for encoding preference information with respect to informationhandling and alerting. For example, the information preferences schemacontains settings on subscriptions, associated preferences and tradeoffswith. A user's default routing information and explicit settings viarules, assignments, or learned preferences are stored here.

The user's current situation is described by metadata and formats forcontextual information. To this end, presence information, locationinformation, and schedule information describe a user's situation, orcontext.

A user-context schema comprises a standard form for representing,storing, updating, and accessing information about a user's situation,including schedule, presence, location, and time-centric profiles orother time-sensitive situation information. This includes informationreceived from a presence schema, which comprises a regularized dataformat that contains attributes about the presence of a user at or neara particular device, and a location schema, which refers to aregularized form for storing data about a user's current and/orpredicted location, for encoding and sharing location information amongcomponents.

The user-context schema also includes information received according toa schedule schema, which provides a standard representation ofinformation about different types of appointments, and for encodingrecurrent periods of time and abstractions about the location,situation, and overall informational context associated different namedperiods of time. A client computing context schema captures registeredcontextual events that characterize a user's computing activities, suchas interactions with the operating system and applications and variousstates of the computing devices resources. A people and groups schemacaptures information about a user's abstractions regarding other people,with a focus on different groupings of people and their properties, forexample, direct reports, or people who will be meeting with the user ona given day. An extended-context schema is defined to captureinformation about the nature, states, and semantics associated with newsources of contextual information that a user wishes to integrate intoan information service, e.g., a user may wish to add data from aconversation detector to the user-context schema so that the platformknows when (and possibly where) the user is in, or has last been in, aconversation.

With the user preference data and context data, notifications directedto the user are received by the information service and routed to anappropriate user device based on the notification metadata (e.g., itsimportance) versus the user's preferences and context. Alternatively,the notification may be saved for later routing, or discarded, againdepending on the notification data relative to the user preference dataand the user's context. The device may be selected based on thepreference and context data, and the notification data may be formattedto match the device properties, including its display capabilities,current network transport capabilities, and so forth.

Other benefits and advantages will become apparent from the followingdetailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, inwhich:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram generally representing an exemplary computersystem into which the present invention may be incorporated;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram generally representing a generic data accessmodel in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a representation of services for identity-based data access inaccordance with one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram generally representing a schema based servicefor accessing data arranged in a logical content document based on adefined schema for that service in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram generally representing a notification platformthat handles data regularized according to schemas to providecriteria-controlled notifications in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram generally representing a subscription processin a notification platform for providing user preference data toinformation sources, in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram generally representing the notificationplatform of FIG. 5, showing components in a selected information sourceand client device to provide criteria-controlled notifications inaccordance with one aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram generally representing components in theclient device interacting with external components to providecriteria-controlled notifications in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary Operating Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment100 on which the invention may be implemented. The computing systemenvironment 100 is only one example of a suitable computing environmentand is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of the invention. Neither should the computing environment100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating toany one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplaryoperating environment 100.

The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include,but are not limited to: personal computers, server computers, hand-heldor laptop devices, tablet devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like.

The invention may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in local and/or remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of acomputer 110. Components of the computer 110 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 120, a system memory 130, and a system bus121 that couples various system components including the system memoryto the processing unit 120. The system bus 121 may be any of severaltypes of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architecturesinclude Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video ElectronicsStandards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus.

The computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer-readablemedia. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can beaccessed by the computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatilemedia, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can accessed by the computer 110. Communication mediatypically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as acarrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any informationdelivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that hasone or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as toencode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 1 illustrates operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136 and program data 137.

The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 1 illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152,and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 156 such as a CD ROM or other optical media.Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storagemedia that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include,but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards,digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solidstate ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 141 is typically connectedto the system bus 121 through a non-removable memory interface such asinterface 140, and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a removable memoryinterface, such as interface 150.

The drives and their associated computer storage media, discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 1, provide storage of computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 110. In FIG. 1, for example, hard disk drive 141 is illustratedas storing operating system 144, application programs 145, other programmodules 146 and program data 147. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137. Operatingsystem 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146, andprogram data 147 are given different numbers herein to illustrate that,at a minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter commands andinformation into the computer 20 through input devices such as a tablet,or electronic digitizer, 164, a microphone 163, a keyboard 162 andpointing device 161, commonly referred to as mouse, trackball or touchpad. Other input devices not shown in FIG. 1 may include a joystick,game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other inputdevices are often connected to the processing unit 120 through a userinput interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus, but may beconnected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallelport, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or othertype of display device is also connected to the system bus 121 via aninterface, such as a video interface 190. The monitor 191 may also beintegrated with a touch-screen panel or the like. Note that the monitorand/or touch screen panel can be physically coupled to a housing inwhich the computing device 110 is incorporated, such as in a tablet-typepersonal computer. In addition, computers such as the computing device110 may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers195 and printer 196, which may be connected through an output peripheralinterface 194 or the like.

The computer 110 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, andtypically includes many or all of the elements described above relativeto the computer 110, although only a memory storage device 181 has beenillustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1include a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN)173, but may also include other networks. Such networking environmentsare commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranetsand the Internet. For example, in the present invention, the computersystem 110 may comprise source machine from which data is beingmigrated, and the remote computer 180 may comprise the destinationmachine. Note however that source and destination machines need not beconnected by a network or any other means, but instead, data may bemigrated via any media capable of being written by the source platformand read by the destination platform or platforms.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connectedto the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes amodem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user inputinterface 160 or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1 illustrates remoteapplication programs 185 as residing on memory device 181. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

Data Access Model

The present invention generally operates in an architecture/platformthat connects network-based (e.g., Internet-based) applications, devicesand services, and transforms them into a user's personal network whichworks on the user's behalf, and with permissions granted by the user. Tothis end, the present invention is generally directed to schema-basedservices that maintain user, group, corporate or other entity data in acommonly accessible virtual location, such as the Internet. The presentinvention is intended to scale to millions of users, and be storedreliably, and thus it is likely that a user's data will be distributedamong and/or replicated to numerous storage devices, such as controlledvia a server federation. As such, while the present invention will begenerally described with respect to an identity-centric model thatenables a user with an appropriate identity and credentials to accessdata by communicating with various core or other services, it isunderstood that the schema-based services described herein are arrangedfor handling the data of millions of users, sorted on aper-user-identity basis. Note that while “user” is generally employedherein for simplicity, as used herein the term “user” is really asubstitute for any identity, which may be a user, a group, anotherentity, an automated agent, an event, a project, and so on.

As generally represented in FIG. 2, a data access model 200 includes ageneric navigation module 202 through which applications 204 and thelike may access a wide variety of identity-based data, such asmaintained in an addressable store 206. To access the data, a common setof command methods may be used to perform operations on various datastructures that are constructed from the data in the addressable store206, even though each of those data structures may represent differentdata and be organized quite differently. Such command methods maydescribe generic operations that may be desired on a wide variety ofdata structures, and include, for example, insert, delete, replace,update, query or changequery methods.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention and as describedin detail below, the data is accessed according to various schemas, withthe schemas corresponding to identity-based services through which usersaccess their data. As used herein, a “schema” generally comprises a setof rules and structure that define how a data structure may beorganized, e.g., what elements are supported, in what order they appear,how many times they appear, and so on. In addition, a schema may define,via color-coding or other identification mechanisms, what portions of adocument (e.g., an XML document that corresponds to the data structure)may be operated on. Examples of such documents are described below asXML-based examples. The schema may also define how the structure of theXML document may be extended to include elements not expressly mentionedin the schema.

As will be understood below, the schemas vary depending on the type ofdata they are intended to organize, e.g., an email-inbox-related schemaorganizes data differently from a schema that organizes a user'sfavorite websites. Further, the services that employ schemas may vary.As such, the generic navigation module 202 has associated therewith anavigation assistance module 208 that includes or is otherwiseassociated with one or more schemas 210. As will be understood, anavigation assistance module 208 as represented in FIG. 2 corresponds toone or more services, and possesses the information that defines how tonavigate through the various data structures, and may also indicatewhich command methods may be executed on what portions of the datastructure. Although in FIG. 2 only one navigation assistance module 208is shown coupled to the generic navigation module 202, there may bemultiple navigation assistance modules that may each specialize asdesired. For example, each navigation assistance module may correspondto one service. Moreover, although the navigation assistance module 208is illustrated as a separate module, some or all of the operations ofthe navigation assistance module 208 may be incorporated into thegeneric navigation module 202, and vice versa. In one embodiment, thevarious data structures constructed from the schema and addressablestore data may comprise XML documents of various XML classes. In thatcase, the navigation assistance module 208 may contain a schemaassociated with each of the classes of XML documents.

The present invention provides a number of schema-based services thatfacilitate data access based on the identity of a user. Preferably, theuser need not obtain a separate identity for each service, but ratherobtains a single identity via a single set of credentials, such as withthe Microsoft® Passport online service. With such an identity, a usercan access data via these services from virtually any networkconnectable device capable of running an application that can call themethods of a service.

Services and Schemas

“.NET My Services” comprises identity-centric services which may begenerally implemented in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) MessageInterfaces (XMIs). While the present invention will be described withrespect to XML and XMI, it can readily be appreciated that the presentinvention is not limited to any particular language or set ofinterfaces. For example, the encoding for the various schema metadata(such as the notification schema metadata) can be in different formats,e.g., the metadata may be encoded in MIME for SMTP (email), in XML forSOAP messages, or SIP, depending on the protocol and application. The.NET My Services model essentially corresponds to one implementation ofthe generic data access model 200 of FIG. 2.

As generally represented in FIG. 3, .NET My Services 300 is implementedas a set of Web services 301-316, each bound to a .NET Identity (PUID,such as a Passport® unique identifier similar to a globally uniqueindentifier when Passport® is the authentication service). The services301-316 can communicate with one another via a service-to-servicecommunications protocol (SSCP), as described in U.S. Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/275,809, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.As also described below, each service presents itself as a set of XMLdocuments that can be manipulated from an application program 202 (FIG.2) or the like using a set of standard methods and domain-specificmethods. To this end, a user device 320 (endpoint) running suchapplication programs connects a user's applications to the services, andto the data controlled by those services, such as over the Internet oran Intranet. Note that endpoints can be client devices, applications orservices. In keeping with the present invention, virtually any devicecapable of executing software and connecting to a network in any meansmay thus give a user access to data that the user is allowed to access,such as the user's own data, or data that a friend, colleague or otherinformation source has specified as being accessible to that particularuser.

In general, a .NET Identity is an identifier assigned to an individual,a group of individuals, or some form of organization or project. Usingthis identifier, services bound to that identity can be located andmanipulated. A general effect is that each identity (e.g., of a user,group or organization) has tied to it a set of services that arepartitioned along schema boundaries and across different identities. Aswill be understood, the XML-document-centric architecture of .NET MyServices provides a model for manipulating and communicating servicestate that is very different from prior data access models. TheXML-document-centric approach, in conjunction with loose binding to thedata exposed by the services, enables new classes of applicationprograms. As will also be understood, the .NET My Services model 300presents the various services 301-316 using a uniform and consistentservice and method model, a uniform and consistent data access andmanipulation model, and a uniform and consistent security authorizationmodel.

In a preferred implementation, the .NET My Services model 300 is basedupon open Internet standards. Services are accessed by means of SOAP(Simple Object Access Protocol) messages containing an XML payload.Service input and output is expressed as XML document outlines, and eachof these document outlines conform to an XML schema document. Thecontent is available to a user interacting with the .NET My Servicesservice endpoint 320. It is understood, however, that the presentinvention is not limited to the .NET architecture and/or services, SOAP,and/or XML, but rather contemplates other architectures, services,protocols and document formats/markup languages.

A web service is essentially described by a schema. More particularly, aservice author begins to write a web service by defining a schema (e.g.,in XML) that defines what the data model looks like, e.g., the supportedelements, their relative ordering, how many times they appear, and othersimilar definitions, as will become apparent below. This servicedefinition also applies to an author determining what roles and methodsare supported, e.g., which operations are supported, and the extent ofthe data that can be returned for each method. Another way of statingthis concept is that the author starts by building a complete definitionof a service, such as in XML, and specifies the verbs (methods) that anapplication will use to talk to it.

At this point, the service author has an XML definition that has beendeclared, and this declarative definition may be run through acompilation process, resulting in a fully operational service. It shouldbe noted that a general purpose interpreter-like mechanism may be fedone of these declarative XML definitions, and result in a service thatis capable of operating. In a simple service (e.g., with nodomain-specific methods or complex logic), no new code needs to bewritten to provide such an operational service. As will be understood,such authoring of a service without coding is possible due to the datadriven model of the present architecture. As will be understood,however, code can also be written to influence and/or work with theservice generation process to add value to a service, and/or providespecific, runtime business logic that is not expressible in adeclarative way.

Turning to FIG. 4, in the .NET My Services model, an application 400requests performance of a method that operates on data structures. Theapplication may make a request that is generic with respect to the typeof data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicatedexecutable code for manipulating data structures of any particular datatype. To this end, the application first contacts a .NET Servicesservice 314 (which may be referred to as .NET Service) to obtain theinformation needed to communicate with a particular service 404, througha set of methods 406 of that service 404. For example, the neededinformation received from the .NET Services service 314 includes a URIof that service 404. Note that the service 404 may correspond toessentially any of the services represented in FIG. 3.

The service 404 includes or is otherwise associated with a set ofmethods 406 including standard methods 408, such as to handle requestsdirected to insert, delete, replace, update, query or changequeryoperations on the data. The set of methods of a particular service mayalso include service specific methods 410. In general, the only way inwhich an application can communicate with a service are via thatservice's methods.

Each service includes service logic 412 for handling requests andproviding suitable responses. To this end, the service logic performsvarious functions such as authorization, authentication, and signaturevalidation, and further limits valid users to only the data that theyare permitted to access. The security aspect of a service is notdiscussed herein, except to note that in general, for otherwise validusers, the user's identity determines whether a user can access data ina requested manner. To this end, a roleMap 414 comprising service-wideroleList document templates 415 and scopes (e.g., part of the overallservice's schema 416), in conjunction with user-based data maintained inan addressable store 418, determines whether a particular requestedmethod is allowed, e.g., by forming an identity-based roleList document420. If a method is allowed, the scope information in the roleMap 414determines a shape of data to return, e.g., how much content is allowedto be accessed for this particular user for this particular request. Thecontent is obtained in accordance with a content document 422 in theservice's schema 416 and the actual user data corresponding to thatcontent document in the addressable store 418. In this manner, aper-identity shaped content document 424 is essentially constructed forreturning to the user, or for updating the addressable store, asappropriate for the method. Note that FIG. 4 includes a number ofID-based roleList documents and ID-based content documents, to emphasizethat the service 406 is arranged to serve multiple users. Also, in FIG.4, a system document 426 is present as part of the schema 416, asdescribed below.

Returning to FIG. 3, in one implementation, access to .NET My Services300 is accomplished using SOAP messages formatted with .NET MyServices-specific header and body content. Each of the services willaccept these messages by means of an HTTP POST operation, and generate aresponse by “piggy-backing” on the HTTP Response, or by issuing an HTTPPOST to a .NET MyServices response-processing endpoint 320. In additionto HTTP as the message transfer protocol, .NET My Services will supportraw SOAP over TCP, a transfer protocol known as Direct Internet MessageEncapsulation (or DIME). Other protocols for transferring messages arefeasible.

Because each of the .NET My Services services are accessed by protocol,no particular client-side binding code, object models, API layers, orequivalents are required, and are thus optional. The .NET My Servicesmodel will support Web Services Description Language (WSDL). It is notmandatory that applications wishing to interact with .NET My Servicesservices make use of any particular bindings, and such bindings are notdescribed herein. Instead, the communication will be generally describedin terms of messages that flow between requesters of a particularservice and the service endpoints. In order to interact with .NET MyServices, a service needs to format a .NET My Services message anddeliver that message to a .NET My Services endpoint. In order to formata message, a client needs to manipulate XML document outlines, andtypically perform some simple, known (public-domain) cryptographicoperations on portions of the message.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, and as describedin FIG. 4 and below, in one preferred implementation, each .NET MyServices service presents three logical XML documents, a contentdocument 422, roleList document 415 (of the roleMap 414), and a systemdocument 426. These documents are addressable using .NET My Servicesmessage headers, and are manipulated using standard .NET My Servicesmethods. In addition to these common methods, each service may includeadditional domain-specific methods. For example, the .NET Scheduleservice 303 might choose to expose a “getFreeBusy” method rather thanexpose free/busy as writeable fragments in the content document.

Each .NET My Services service thus logically includes a content document422, which in general is the main, service-specific document. The schemafor this document 422 is a function of the class of service, as willbecome apparent from the description of each service's schema below. Forexample, in the case of the .NET Schedule service 303, the contentdocument presents data in the shape dictated by the .NET Scheduleschema, whereas in the case of the .NET FavoriteWebSites service 308,the content document presents data in the shape dictated by a .NETFavoriteWebSites schema.

Each service also includes a roleList document 415 that containsroleList information, comprising information that governs access to thedata and methods exported by the service 404. The roleList document ismanipulated using the .NET standard data manipulation mechanisms. Theshape of this document is governed by the .NET core schema'sroleListType XML data type.

Each service also includes a system document 426, which containsservice-specific system data such as the roleMap, schemaMap, messageMap,version information, and service specific global data. The document ismanipulated using the standard .NET My Services data manipulationmechanism, although modifications are limited in a way that allows onlythe service itself to modify the document. The shape of this systemdocument 426 may be governed by the system document schema for theparticular service, in that each service may extend a base systemdocument type with service specific information. Each service typicallyincludes at least the base system portion in its system document.

As will be understood, the present invention employs schemas fornormalizing data exchange, which in general comprise a set of rules orstandards that define how a particular type of data can be structured.Note that although the schemas are defined into regularized/standardized properties, they are not necessarily fixed, asextensibility is built into each of the schemas. Via the schemas, themeaning of data, rather than just the data itself, may be communicatedbetween computer systems. For example, a computer device may recognizethat a data structure that follows a particular address schemarepresents an address, enabling the computer to “understand” thecomponent part of an address. The computer device may then performintelligent actions based on the understanding that the data structurerepresents an address. Such actions may include, for example, thepresentation of an action menu to the user that represents things to dowith addresses. Schemas may be stored locally on a device and/orglobally in a federation's “mega-store.” A device can keep alocally-stored schema updated by subscribing to an event notificationservice (in this case, a schema update service) that automaticallypasses messages to the device when the schema is updated. Access toglobally stored schemas is controlled by the security infrastructure.

A number of the services 301-315 (FIG. 2) are referred to as coreservices, which employ schemas to manage access to the data that mostusers will likely need. Other services, referred to as extended services216, will also employ schemas in the same manner, but are more likely tobe desirable to certain users and not others. Examples of extendedschemas include services such as .NET Portfolio, .NET Photos, .NETTravel, .NET Music, .NET Movies, .NET TV, .NET Wishlist, .NET School,.NET Groceries, .NET News, .NET Sports, .NET TopScores and so on. Notethat FIG. 3 shows only one exemplary set of core services, and thatother core services implementations may include different services, adifferent combination of these services (i.e. a subset), and/oradditional services which may be considered as “core” services. Forexample, the schemas represented in FIG. 5 are each associated with aservice that may be considered a “core service,” such as the contextservice.

.NET Notifications

The .NET Notification (myNotification) service is designed to delivernotifications to an identity. This service can be used by anyapplication or service to send and/or receive notifications rooted froman identity. The service represents itself as queue of notifications,that can be pushed via a SOAP message using SMXP routing or polled viathe query method.

Logically, the myNotifications service is broken up into distinctsections as represented by the content XML document, includingnotifications, the section that contains the queue of notifications.Each notification is defined by a standardized schema, with attributesthat assist consumers of these notifications in scoping whichnotifications are interesting or not. The body of the notification canbe customized by each notification provider. Notifications may behandled in different ways depending on the configuration of the serviceand the nature of the notification. For example, notifications mayreside in this queue until their “Time to live” parameter expires,regardless whether they have been read or not.

Another section is the notification streams section, which contains thelist of notification streams currently active against the myNotificationservice for a given identity. A notification contains two elements,namely an SMXP message path used to route (i.e. push) notifications totheir final destination, and a scoping expression (i.e. XPATH) used tofilter what notifications are sent down the message path. A notificationstream is registered with myNotifications for a given identity, byadding/updating notificationStream element(s) to the notificationStreamssection of the document using the common add, update methods.

Another section is the notification preferences section, which containsvarious notification preferences, including a doFirst SMXP message pathelement, which users can set such that the myNotifications serviceautomatically routes incoming notifications to the specified path. Thisis accomplished by simply chaining this path into the path specified ina notification stream. The doFirst path is important for use withdecision making notification routers that obtain the notification firstin order to do some processing prior to it being routed to its finaldestination.

When a new notification is added into the myNotifications queue for anidentity, (via the addNotification method), the following logic occurswithin the myNotifications service, as shown below: foreachnotificationStream in notificationStreams {  if(notificationStream.location MATCHES notification)  {   if(notificationPreferences.doFirstPath)   {    pushPath =notificationPreferences.doFirstPath +    notificationStream.path;   status = push(notification, pushPath);    registerErrorStatus(status,pushPath, notificationStream);   }   else   {    status =push(notification, notificationStream.path);   registerErrorStatus(status, notificationStream.path,   notificationStream);   }  } }

To summarize, when a new notification enters the myNotifications queue,the service iterates through each notificationStream registered in thenotificationStreams section and attempts to match thenotificationStream's location expression against the new notification.If a successful match occurs, myNotifications will attempt to push thenotification to the notificationStream's path unless a globaldoFirstPath is registered in notificationPreferences. Note that theservice does not stop because a match occurred on a stream. Instead, theservice inspects each registered notification stream to see if thenotification satisfies other streams as well. In this way, multiplereaders of the notification stream are supported. If significantsequential errors are detected while pushing notifications down in atmessage path, the message path is deleted.

Notifications may be read by using the standard query method, howeverthe preferred method is for myNotifications to push the notification viaa SOAP message using SMXP routing mechanisms. In order to accomplishthis push mechanism, clients need to have an SMXP aware connection tothe myNotifications service, which, for example, may be accomplished bycalling the getChannelAddress method, which yields ansmxp://mynotifications.microsoft.net:1280 type of response. Given thisURI, the client can connect and bind to this address.

Once a successful connection is established, the myNotifications servicenames this message Path (e.g.,‘vid=“cid:12385345@mynotifications.microsoft.net’”). The naming of thismessage Path is accomplished by sending a getChannelName message on thejust established channel. Once the message path is succesfully named,both clients and the myNotification service may use this name todescribe a section in a message path which details how messages arerouted to their final destination. These message paths can be set withoptional filters in the notificationStreams section of the service.

Each notification contains a Time to Live field <notificationTTL>. Oncethe specified time expires, the notification may be deleted or loggedfrom the queue (depending on the setting). Notification providers thatgenerate the notification set this Time to Live value based on internaldefaults or other user preferences.

Each notification is standardized by the .NET schemas, but applicationscan use the body element to add additional information that is notdescribed in the notification schema. Addition of free form data isallowed within the body, but use of the schematized extensions withinthe body element is encouraged to allow shredding of the XML data aswell as queries within.

.NET Notifications/Roles

The .NET Notifications service controls access by using theroleTemplates, rt0, rt1, rt2, rt3, and rt99, using the following scopes:scope allElements <hs:scope id=7215df55-e4af-449f-a8e4-72a1f7c6a987> <hs:shape base=t>  </hs:shape> </hs:scope> scope onlySelfElements<hs:scope id=a159c93d-4010-4460-bc34-5094c49c1633>  <hs:shape base=nil>  <hs:include select=//*[@creator=‘$callerId’]/>  </hs:shape></hs:scope> scope onlySelfSubscriptionElements <hs:scopeid=b7f05a6d-75cd-4958-9dfb-f532ebb17743>  <hs:shape base=nil>  <hs:include select=//subscription[@creator=‘$callerId’]/>  </hs:shape></hs:scope> scope onlyPublicElements <hs:scopeid=da025540-a0c0-470f-adcf-9f07e5a5ec8f>  <hs:shape base=nil>  <hs:include select=//*[cat/@ref=‘hs:public’]/>   <hs:includeselect=//subscription[@creator=‘$callerId’]/>  </hs:shape> </hs:scope>

The .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt0 role gives give completeread/write access to the information within the content document of theservice being protected through this roleTemplate. The following tableillustrates the available methods and the scope in effect when accessingthe .NET Notifications service through that method while mapped to thisroleTemplate. TABLE .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt0 methodscope/name query allElements insert allElements replace allElementsdelete allElements update allElements

The .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt1 role gives complete read accessto all information within the content document of the service beingprotected through this roleTemplate. Applications mapping to this rolealso have a limited ability to write to information in the contentdocument. Applications may create nodes in any location, but may onlychange/replace, or delete nodes that they created. The following tableillustrates the available methods and the scope in effect when accessingthe .NET Notifications service through that method while mapped to thisroleTemplate: TABLE .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt1 methodscope/name Query allElements Insert onlySelfElements ReplaceonlySelfElements Delete onlySelfElements

The .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt2 gives complete read access toall information within the content document of the service beingprotected through this roleTemplate. Applications mapping to this rolehave very limited write access and are only able to create andmanipulate their own subscription nodes. The following table illustratesthe available methods and the scope in effect when accessing the .NETNotifications service through that method while mapped to thisroleTemplate. TABLE .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt2 methodscope/name query allElements insert onlySelfSubscriptionElements replaceonlySelfSubscriptionElements delete onlySelfSubscriptionElements

The .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt3 gives limited read access toinformation within the content document that is categorized as “public.”The following table illustrates the available methods and the scope ineffect when accessing the .NET Notifications service through that methodwhile mapped to this roleTemplate: TABLE .NET Notifications roleTemplatert3 method scope/name query onlyPublicElements

The .NET Notifications roleTemplate rt99 blocks access to the contentdocument. Note that lack of a role in the roleList has the same effectas assigning someone to rt99. The following table illustrates that thereare no available methods and the scope in effect when accessing the .NETNotifications service through that method while mapped to thisroleTemplate (note that in other services described herein, such anempty table will not be repeated): TABLE .NET Notifications roleTemplatert99 method scope/name.NET Notification (myNotifications)—Content

The Notification content document based on the notification schema is anidentity-centered document. Its content and meaning are a function ofthe Passport Unique ID (PUID) used to address the service. Access to thedocument is controlled by the associated roleList document. This schemaoutline illustrates the layout and meaning of the information found inthe content document for the myNotifications service. The format issimilar to those presented in the aforementioned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/017,680. <m:myNotifications changeNumber =“...”instanceId=“...” xmlns:m=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/myNotifications” xmlns:hs=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/core”>_(1..1) <m:notification changeNumber =“...” uuid=“...” replace =“...”  threadId =“...” class=“...” id= “...”>_(0..unbounded)  <m:notificationId>_(0..1)    < m:timeStamp >_(1..1)</ m:timeStamp >   < m:trackingNumber >_(1..1)</ m:trackingNumber >  </m:notificationId>   <m:identityHeader type=“...”>_(1..1)   <m:onBehalfOfUser>_(1..1)</m:onBehalfOfUser>   <m:licenseHolder>_(1..1)</m:licenseHolder>   <m:platformId>_(1..1)</m:platformId>   </m:identityHeader>   <m:titlexml:lang=“...” dir=“...”>_(0..1)</m:title>   <m:notificationTTLaction=“...”>_(0..1)    < m:TTL >_(1..1)</ m:TTL >  </m:notificationTTL>   <m:informationValue type=“...”>_(0..1)   <m:value>_(0..1)</m:value>    <m:function type=“...”>_(0..1)    <m:parameters>_(0..1)</m:parameters>    </m:function>   <m:conditional>_(1..1)     <m:context>_(0..1)</m:context>    <m:value>_(0..1)</m:value>     <m:function type=“...”>_(0..1)     <m:parameters>_(0..1)</m:parameters>     </m:function>   </m:conditional>   </m:informationValue>  <m:siteUrl>_(0..1)</m:siteUrl>   <m:actionPath>_(0..1)</m:actionPath>  <m:ackPath>_(0..1)</m:ackPath>  <m:subscriptionPath>_(0..1)</m:subscriptionPath>  <m:bodyImageUrl>_(0..1)</m:bodyImageUrl>   <m:body>_(0..1){any}</m:body>   < m:endPointDelivered >_(0..unbounded)</m:endPointDelivered >  </m:notification>  <m:notificationEndPointchangeNumber =“...” type=“...”   id =“...”>_(0..unbounded)   < m:name>_(1..1)</ m:name >   < m:deviceUuid >_(1..1)</ m:deviceUuid >  <m:path>_(1..1)</m:path>   <m:xpLocation>_(0..1)</m:xpLocation>  <m:sequentialErrorCount>_(0..1)</m:sequentialErrorCount> </m:notificationEndPoint>  <m:notificationPreference changeNumber=“...” id =“...”>_(0..1)   <m:doFirstPath>_(0..1)</m:doFirstPath>  <m:logPath>_(0..1)</m:logPath>  <m:sequentialErrorCount>_(0..1)</m:sequentialErrorCount> </m:notificationPreference> </m:myNotifications>

The meaning of the attributes and elements shown in the preceding sampledocument fragment are listed in the following section. The/myNotifications (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/@changeNumber(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/@instanceId (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded)/myNotifications/notification/@changeNumber(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) elements identify the notification documentand provide version data. The /myNotifications/notification/@uuid(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) attribute contains the uuid chosen by theapplication during subscribe time. Its primary use is to supportmultiple readers of notifications from the same class of service.

The /myNotifications/notification/@replace (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)describes whether a later notification can replace this notification.Possible values include “sameUuid”, “sameClass”, and “sameThreadId.” The/myNotifications/notification/@threadId (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) fieldprovides the notification thread id; notifications with the same threadid can be collapsed. The /myNotifications/notification/@class(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) attribute contains a URI that specifies whatclass of notificationProvider created this notification. The classdefines what the body of the notification will contain.

The /myNotifications/notification/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/notificationId (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/notificationId/timeStamp (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) timeStamp details when the notification was received by thenotification service and inserted into an identities queue. This isreferred to as Time zero for a notification.

The /myNotifications/notification/notificationId/trackingNumber(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element contains a unique Id generated by themyNotifiations service for tracking purposes. It is used to uniquelyidentify every distinct notification that passes through the system.This value is not assigned by user, application, or notificationprovider.

The /myNotifications/notification/identityHeader (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notification/identityHeader/@type(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) type attribute presently has only two possiblevalues: User or Automated. If the value is User, the notification wasgenerated by a real user identity. If the value is Automated, thisnotification was generated from an automated agent.

The /myNotifications/notification/identityHeader/onBehalfOfUser(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element contains the identity header elementdescribing the user who inserted this notification into the queue.

The /myNotifications/notification/identityHeader/licenseHolder(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element contains the identity header elementdescribing the application who inserted this notification into thequeue. The /myNotifications/notification/identityHeader/platformId(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element contains the identity header elementdescribing the platformId who inserted this notification into the queue.

The /myNotifications/notification/title (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional element contains the title of the notification from a specificclass. Its primary use is to help group the same type of notificationfrom the same class. For example,class=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/moneycentral” and title=“MSFT stockquote”.

The /myNotifications/notification/title/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify a language codecompliant with RFC 3066 as described in RFC 3066 (more information isavailable from the W3C). If the language code is unknown, a value of“und” should be used, as per RFC 3066. Applications are expected toundertake reasonable effort to determine the input language and store itwith the data. Applications should preserve a previously set xml:langattribute in cases in which the string itself in not changed by theapplication. The /myNotifications/notification/title/@dir (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layout directionfor the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr(left to right).

The /myNotifications/notification/notificationTTL (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notification/notificationTTL/@action(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) action attribute details what is done with thenotification after the Time to Live expires. There are presently twopossible values, delete or log. Delete will delete the notification oncethe time has expired, while log will log it to user storage (logPathwithin notificationPreferences points where it will be logged). The/myNotifications/notification/notificationTTL/TTL (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element specifies when (in UTC) the notification should beexpired.

The /myNotifications/notification/informationValue (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notification/informationValue/@type(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/value (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notification/informationValue/function(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/function/@type(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/function/parameters(minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional(minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional/context(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional/value(minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional/function(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional/function/@type(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/informationValue/conditional/function/parameters(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) fields contain the notification data.

The /myNotifications/notification/siteUrl (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional element encapsulates the base URL to which the notification canbe traced. The other Url types are rooted from here. The/myNotifications/notification/actionPath (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional element encapsulates the path from the base URL used to performany action requested by this notification. The/myNotifications/notification/ackPath (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optionalelement encapsulates the path from the base URL used to perfom anyacknowledgment requested by this notification. The/myNotifications/notification/subscriptionPath (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional element encapsulates the path from the base URL used to perfomany subscription adjustments that generated this notification. The/myNotifications/notification/bodyImageUrl (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional element encapsulates an URL to an Image (icon/branding) used toidentify this notification. This can also be a local URL.

The /myNotifications/notification/body (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notification/body/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) allows for extended notification data.

The /myNotifications/notification/endPointDelivered (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies endPoints this notification hasbeen delivered to. The /myNotifications/notificationEndPoint(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)/myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/@type (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=) details what kind of end point, for example, “SOAP-RP”,“SMTP”, “SMS”, “UDP”, “HTTP”, “TCP” and so forth. The/myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)optional element provides a descriptive name for this end point. The/myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/deviceUuid (minOccurs=maxOccurs=1)optional element provides a place to store the device UUID for thisnotification end point. It can be used to retrieve presence info frommyPresence for intelligent routing. The/myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/path (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)element contains the path expression that defines the message path forthe end point. The syntax of this element is determined by the end pointtype. For example, if it is SMTP, the path is in the format of“user1@microsoft.net”.

The /myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/xpLocation (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) location element is used to help scope the notificationmatching. The /myNotifications/notificationEndPoint/sequentialErrorCount(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) location contains the number of serioussequential errors detected while pushing notifications along this path.Once this reaches a predetermined count, the service determines that thepath is unreachable, and this notificationEndPoint is removed.

The /myNotifications/notificationPreference (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/myNotifications/notificationPreference/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) /myNotifications/notificationPreference/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) detail preference data.

The /myNotifications/notificationPreference/doFirstPath (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional element expresses the global SOAP-RP message pathto route SOAP messages first. The/myNotifications/notificationPreference/logPath (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional element is a URI that points to user suppliedstorage used to log notifications when they expire (as specified innotificationTTL).

The /myNotifications/notificationPreference/sequentialErrorCount(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) location contains the number of serioussequential errors detected while pushing notifications along this path.Once this reaches a predetermined count, the service determines that thepath is unreachable, and the doFirstPath is deleted.

.NET Notifications (myNotifications)—System

The system document is a global document for the service. Its contentand meaning are independent of the Passport Unique ID (PUID) used toaddress the service, and the document is read only to all users. Thesystem document contains a set of base items common to all .NET MyServices, and is optionally extended by each service to includeservice-specific global information.

This schema outline illustrates the layout and meaning of theinformation found in the system document for the myNotificationsservice: <sys:system changeNumber =“...” instanceId=“...” xmlns:hs=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/core” xmlns:sys=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/myNotifications/system”>_(1..1) <hs:systemVersion changeNumber =“...” id= “...”>_(1..1)   <hs:versionminorVersion=“...” majorVersion=“...” qfe=“...”buildNumber=“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:productReleaseName>_(1..1)</hs:productReleaseName>   <hs:productImplementationName>_(1..1)</hs:productImplementationName>  </hs:version>   <hs:buildDate>_(1..1)</hs:buildDate>  <hs:buildDetails machine=“...” type=“...” branch=“...”official=“...”>_(1..1)</hs:buildDetails>  </hs:systemVersion> <hs:roleMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:scope id=“...”>_(0..unbounded)    <hs:name xml:lang=“...”dir=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:name>    <hs:shape base=“...”>_(1..1)    <hs:include select=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:include>    <hs:exclude select=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:exclude>    </hs:shape>  </hs:scope>   <hs:roleTemplate name=“...”>_(0..unbounded)   <hs:fullDescription xml:lang=“...”dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:fullDescription>    <hs:method name=“...”scopeRef=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:method>   </hs:roleTemplate> </hs:roleMap>  <hs:methodMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)  <hs:method name=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:method> </hs:methodMap>  <hs:schemaMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)  <hs:schema namespace=“...” schemaLocation=“...”alias=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:schema>  </hs:schemaMap> <hs:wsdlMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:wsdlwsdlLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:wsdl>   <hs:discodiscoLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:disco>   <hs:wsilwsilLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:wsil>  </hs:wsdlMap>  {any}</sys:system>

The meaning of the attributes and elements shown in the preceding sampledocument fragment are listed below. The /system (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element encapsulates the system document for the Microsoft®.NET Notifications service. The /system/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/@instanceId (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/version (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1),/system/systemVersion/version/@minorVersion (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attributes identify the system and version information of the .NETservice.

The /system/systemVersion/version/@majorVersion (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the major version number of the .NETservice, while the /system/systemVersion/version/@qfe (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the quick-fix engineering (QFE) versionnumber of the .NET service. The/system/systemVersion/version/@buildNumber (minOccurs=maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the build number of the .NET service. The/system/systemVersion/version/productReleaseName (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element defines the major product release string (forexample, “.NET My Services Beta 1”.)

The /system/systemVersion/version/productImplementationName (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element defines the class of the service to differentiatebetween different implementations. The /system/systemVersion/buildDate(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element defines the date and time that the.NET My Services system was built, in UTC (Z-relative) form. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@machine (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the machine that generated the build. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@type (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the type of build. A value of chk indicates thatthis is a checked or debug build. A value of fre indicates that this isa retail build.

The /system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@branch (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the software branch ID for the source code thatcontributed to this build. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@official (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute indicates whether the build was produced by an official buildprocess (value of yes), or an unofficial process (value of no).

The /system/roleMap (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/scope (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)element defines a scope which may be referred to by roles within thisroleMap to indicate what portions of the document are visible to thisrole for the specified method, along with the /system/roleMap/scope/@id(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)/system/roleMap/scope/name (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) elements.

The /system/roleMap/scope/name/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)required attribute is used to specify a language code compliant with RFC3066 as described in RFC 3066; more information is available from theW3C. If the language code is unknown, a value of “und” should be used,as per RFC 3066. Applications are expected to undertake a reasonableeffort to determine the input language and store it with the data.Applications should preserve a previously set xml:lang attribute incases in which the string itself in not changed by the application.

The /system/roleMap/scope/name/@dir (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=) optionalattribute specifies the default layout direction for the localizedstring. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr (left to right).The /system/roleMap/scope/shape (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/scope/shape/@base (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the initial set of nodes visible through the shape.A value of t indicates that the shape is initialized to include allpossible nodes relative to the shape that is currently in effect. Forinstance, each role defines a scope containing a shape. When defining ashape for a role, the value t indicates all possible nodes available inthe specified document for this role. When defining a shape in an ACLentry, a value of t means all of the nodes visible in the shape for thecomputed role. When using a shape in an hsdl operation, a value of tindicates all of the possible nodes selected by the hsdl operation(relative to the ACL shape which itself is relative to the role'sshape). The value nil indicates the opposite of t, which is the emptynode set. Nodes from this set may then be included into the shape.

The /system/roleMap/scope/shape/include (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the set of nodes that should beincluded into the shape relative to the possible set of nodes indicatedby the base attribute. The /system/roleMap/scope/shape/include/@select(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) /system/roleMap/scope/shape/exclude(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the set of nodesthat should be excluded from the shape relative to the possible set ofnodes indicated by the base attribute. The/system/roleMap/scope/shape/exclude/@select (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/roleTemplate (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element encapsulates the definition of a role. Theattribute set for this element includes the document class that thisroleTemplate refers to, the name of the roleTemplate, and the priorityof the roleTemplate.

The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/@name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the name of the role. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)element contains a description of this roleTemplate that specifies thecapabilities a caller will have when accessing information through thisrole. The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription/@xml:lang(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify alanguage code compliant with RFC 3066 as described in RFC 3066; moreinformation is available from the W3C. If the language code is unknown,a value of “und” should be used, as per RFC 3066. Applications areexpected to undertake a reasonable effort to determine the inputlanguage and store it with the data. Applications should preserve apreviously set xml:lang attribute in cases in which the string itself innot changed by the application. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription/@dir (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layout directionfor the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr(left to right).

The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the methods available within thisroleTemplate by name and by scope. When a subject maps to aroleTemplate, the method in the request must match one of these elementsfor the message to continue to flow. If the method exists, the dataavailable to the method is a function of the scope referenced by thismethod, combined with an optional scope referenced by the role definedin the roleList. The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method/@name(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element specifies the name of the method. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method/@scopeRef (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the scope within this document that is in effect forthis method.

The /system/methodMap (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/method(minOccurs=0 axOccurs=unbounded) fields provide method-related data. The/system/methodMap/method/@name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the name of a method available within this service. The/system/methodMap/method/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)provides for extensibility.

The /system/schemaMap (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/schema(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) provide schema map data. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@namespace (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the namespace URI of this schema. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@schemaLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the location (in the form of a URI) of the resourcecontaining the schema. When a schema is reachable through a variety ofURIs, one schema element will exist for each location. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@alias (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the preferred alias to be used, if possible, when manipulatinginformation covered by this schema in the context of this service. The/system/schemaMap/schema/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded)/system/wsdlMap (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/wsdlMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/wsdlMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) provideWSDL-related data. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element is used to specify the location of a WSDLfile for this service. Multiple entries may exist pointing to the samefile hosted in multiple locations, or to variations on the contentwithin the WSDL files. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl/@wsdlLocation(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attribute is a URI that specifies the locationof the WSDL file. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) provides for extensibility.

The /system/wsdlMap/disco (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element isused to specify the location of a DISCO file for this service. Multipleentries may exist pointing to the same file hosted in multiplelocations, or to variations on the content within the DISCO files. The/system/wsdlMap/disco/@discoLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributeis a URI that specifies the location of the DISCO file. The/system/wsdlMap/disco/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) providesfor extensibility.

The /system/wsdlMap/wsil (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element isused to specify the location of a WSIL file for this service. Multipleentries may exist pointing to the same file hosted in multiplelocations, or to variations on the content within the WSIL files. The/system/wsdlMap/wsil/@wsilLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributeis a URI that specifies the location of the WSIL file. The/system/wsdlMap/wsil/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded)/system/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)field provides for extensibility.

.NET Notifications (myNotification)—/Methods

The myNotifications service supports the standard methods as describedin the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/017,680.

.NET DEVICES (myDevices)

The Microsoft® .NET Devices (myDevices) service stores characteristicsof a user's devices to inform an information agent service about thenature, abilities and appropriateness for transmitting and renderinginformation of different content and in different contexts. Such aservice can store device characteristics with the carriers thatprovision those devices. This service is designed primarily to be usedin conjunction with the other Microsoft .NET Services, allowing data,such as notifications or documents, to be delivered to devices onvarious transports in a customized manner. For example, the use of themyDevices schema and service is described below with respect toreceiving notifications.

The myDevices service controls access by using some or all of theroleTemplates and scopes set forth above with reference to .NETnotifications.

The .NET devices (also known as myDevices) web service is a centralizedstore for attributes of .NET-compatible computing devices associatedwith a single (e.g., user) identity. The .NET Devices service isdesigned to store a combination of characteristics about devices,including mobile communication devices, along with data on any carriersthat provision those devices. This service is primarily designed toallow notifications, messages and other real-time communications to bedelivered to a wide variety of devices on various transports. Byproviding this service, applications, web sites and other third partyservices can easily query the list and capabilities of registeredcomputers, cell phones, PDAs, and so on associated with an individual.Such elements as device screen size, screen color depth, input methods,processor type, backchannel and confirmation ability, are stored and canbe queried by any allowed service.

By providing for this centralized store, applications can easily querythe native capabilities of devices associated with an individual andmake intelligent decisions around shaping content or notificationsspecifically for the unique attributes of a specific device. They can dothis even if the device is inaccessible, turned off, or transientlyconnected to the Internet.

The .Net Devices service and schema provide cross-referencing of aglobally unique device identification number throughout the other .NETservices, such as the electronic end point for email messages,notifications or presence information. In addition, the globally uniquedevice ID number may be the same as used by the Universal Plug and Playforum (http://www.upnp.org), so as to provide interoperability withother UPnP devices. The present invention also provides a “last knowngood” state of the current device state, as stored on the centralserver, even if the device is turned off, and provides key informationabout how the device is actually being used at the current moment forother high value .NET services, such as the myNotifications service. Thepresent invention further provides a central point of administration forall devices associated with a person, easily enabling them to add,delete or change ownership of devices (such as when selling anAutoPC-equipped car), and provides an extensibility mechanism so thatthird parties can decorate the schema with additional elements unique totheir specific circumstances, such as adding a variety of cellularnetwork-specific attributes to a cell phone device.

For example, consider a user purchasing a new .NET-aware cell phone.When first activated and a Passport ID (PUID) entered, the device askswhether to register the phone with the user's Personal.NET service. Ifaffirmative, the phone dumps its current physical attributes (screensize, network transports, etc) to the central myDevices Service. Thisdevice then appears as one of possibly many devices in the deviceadministration web page associated with the user's identity. The usercan then grant or deny access to the information about that device viathe various .NET roles the user may have previously created (“Friend”,“Family”, “Business Colleague”, and so forth).

Once a user's devices are registered, if a website or the like needs tosend that user an important email message, and has decided that the useris likely to quickly get the message on the cell phone, the websiteserver queries the central myDevices service and looks up the physicalattributes of the cell phone (assuming it has the necessarypermissions). The website may now formulate an HTML-based email messagespecifically tailored to the physical attributes of that device, e.g.,to be delivered by the primary SMTP transport as listed for that devicevia the myPresence .NET service (e.g., the electronic end point aslisted for the SMTP transport). If the cell phone was out of networkrange, or turned off, then the email message may be queued for laterdelivery by the network transport of that device.

Alternatively, and as described below, the following may scenario happenwhen the website wants to send the user an important email message. Theinformation agent service 504 (.NET notification server) 504 may querythe myDevices service 306 to learn which items will help it in theintelligent routing of time-critical notifications to amost-likely-to-be seen or heard device. One of these may include themost recent timestamp associated with each device schema. This, combinedwith other context information (such as the current list of events inthe user's .NET Schedule/Calendar service 303 can indicate which deviceis (or devices are) most likely to be online and accessible at themoment. Another of these items may include a currently preferred alertmode (flash, vibrate, buzz, chirp or the like) for when notificationsland on the device, for the appropriate formatting of the content.Although the device will generally be the final decision authority onhow and when notifications will be displayed, it is of great use if thenotifications service knows in advance of notification delivery to makeinformed decisions on the best way to shape and route the notification.Also, users may configure their notification preferences and/or devicesso as to abide by recommendations about the best alerting per contextand content transmitted in the notification schema as composed by theinformation source or the user's information-agent service.

Yet another valuable item to know is the current network transportbandwidth. This will help determine whether to route large emailmessages or attachments (e.g., pictures) to that device.

With some or all of the desired information, the .NET notificationservice then generates an appropriately formatted real-time notificationmessage based upon the above inputs and sends it along to the device viathe electronic end point transports, e.g., as listed in the myPresenceservice.

.NET Devices (myDevices)—/Content

The .NET Devices (myDevices) content document is an identity-centereddocument. Its content and meaning are a function of the Passport UniqueID (PUID) used to address the service. Access to the document iscontrolled by the associated roleList document. The following schemaoutline illustrates the layout and meaning of the information found inthe content document for the myDevices service: <m:myDeviceschangeNumber= “...” instanceId=“...” xmlns:m=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/myDevices” xmlns:hs=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/core”>_(1..1) <m:device changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(0..unbounded)   < m:cat ref=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</ m:cat >   < m:deviceId >_(1..1)</ m:deviceId >  < m:carrierId >_(1..1)</ m:carrierId >   <m:name xml:lang=“...”dir=“...”>_(1..1)</m:name>   < m:address >_(0..unbounded)</ m:address >   {any}  </m:device>  <m:subscription changeNumber =“...” id=“...”>_(0..unbounded)   <hs:trigger mode=“...” baseChangeNumber=“...”  select=“...”>_(1..1)</hs:trigger>  <hs:expiresAt>_(0..1)</hs:expiresAt>   <hs:context uri=“...”>_(1..1){any}</hs:context>   <hs:to>_(1..1)</hs:to>  </m:subscription>  {any}</m:myDevices>

The meaning of the attributes and elements shown in the preceding sampledocument fragment are listed in the following section. The /myDevices(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element encapsulates the content document forthe Microsoft®.NET Devices service. The /myDevices/@changeNumber(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/@instanceId (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/device (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)/myDevices/device/@changeNumber(minOccurs=maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/device/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/device/cat (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)provide various details of the device. The /myDevices/device/cat/@ref(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attribute references a category definition(catDef) element using the rules outlined in the .NET Categories(myCategories) section of the aforementioned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/017,680.

The /myDevices/device/deviceId (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) elementcontains the device name/ID in URI form. This element is encoded as aURI to allow richer and more extensible naming for the device than canbe expressed using a simple UUID. In one implementation, the URI namewill be of the formhttp://mydevices.microsoft.com/carrierID/deviceID#9c20f0e8-c0ef-472d-8bec-4cc6f8b0f456.

The /myDevices/device/carrierId (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) elementcontains the URI of the carrier that is responsible for servicing thisdevice. The element is encoded as a URI, which allows for bothUUID-based carrier identification and richer identification mechanisms.The /myDevices/device/name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element contains auser-readable, non-unique friendly name for the device.

The /myDevices/device/name/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) requiredattribute is used to specify a language code compliant with RFC 3066 asdescribed in RFC 3066; more information is available from the W3C. Ifthe language code is unknown, a value of “und” should be used, as perRFC 3066. Applications are expected to undertake reasonable effort todetermine the input language and store it with the data. Applicationsshould preserve a previously set xml:lang attribute in cases in whichthe string itself in not changed by the application.

The /myDevices/device/name/@dir (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optionalattribute specifies the default layout direction for the localizedstring. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr (left to right).The /myDevices/device/address (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) elementcontains addresses in the form of URIs that can be used to address thisdevice. For example, if the device is addressable through e-mail, anaddress entry of “mailto:someone@microsoft.com” may appear in thiselement. If the device is also addressable through an HTTP gateway, anadditional address of “http://microsoft.com/somepath/someid” can bespecified in this element. This element is repeated for each addressthat can be used to address the device. The /myDevices/device/{any}(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) field allows for extensibility.

The /myDevices/subscription (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)/myDevices/subscription/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/subscription/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/myDevices/subscription/trigger (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)fields are directed to subscription-related data. The/myDevices/subscription/trigger/@mode (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies whether the content of the changes that triggeredthe subscription are delivered in the subscription message, or themessage simply indicates that something changed under the trigger. Theattribute may be includeData, wherein the data that changed, causing thesubscription to trigger, is included in the subscription message. Notethat deleted nodes are specified by their ID, not by value. Theattribute also may be excludeData, wherein the data that changed,causing the subscription to trigger, is not included in the subscriptionmessage.

The /myDevices/subscription/trigger/@baseChangeNumber (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the changeNumber value to which thetrigger relates. Changes between the specified change number and thecurrent state of the document relative to the selection are transmittedas subscription messages. This allows a client application to establisha subscription relative to some baseline. As with changeQuery, if thebaseChangeNumber is way out of date relative to the current state of thedocument, and the service can not supply the changes in the subscriptionmessage, the subscription insert is rejected. A value of zero means thatthe current values of the selected nodes are transmitted in thesubscription message.

The /myDevices/subscription/trigger/@select (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)item specifies an XPath expression that specifies the nodes that are tobe selected and watched for changes. The selection may select onlyxdb:blue nodes. As changes in this node set occur, they trigger thegeneration of subscription messages. These messages are then sent to theSOAP receiver listed in the “to” element.

The /myDevices/subscription/expiresAt (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optionalelement specifies an absolute time after which the subscription is nolonger active. The subscription node is automatically removed when thesubscription expires. If this element is missing, the subscription doesnot expire. The /myDevices/subscription/context (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element returns the context element from the originalsubscription. Applications should use this element (and only thiselement) to correlate the subscription response with one of theirsubscriptions. The /myDevices/subscription/context/@uri (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the URI value chosen by the subscriberthat is associated with this subscription. The/myDevices/subscription/context/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)provides built-in extensibility.

The /myDevices/subscription/to (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the location that is to receive the subscription message. Thevalue of this element may be one of the following forms:

-   -   hs:myAlerts—This URI indicates that generated subscription        messages are to be delivered inside the body of a notification        and delivered to the default .NET Alerts service of the creator.    -   protocol://service—This URI indicates that generated        subscription messages are delivered to the specified service at        the domain of the creator's platformId. For instance, a        platformId indicating contoso.com, and a value in this element        of http://subscriptionResponse, would cause delivery of the        subscription message to http://subscriptionResponse.contoso.com.

If this value is not specified, the subscription message is delivered asa notification to the “creator's” .NET Alerts service. The/myDevices/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) field provides forextensibility.

-   -   .NET Devices—/System

The system document is a global document for the service. Its contentand meaning are independent of the Passport Unique ID (PUID) used toaddress the service, and the document is read only to all users. Thesystem document contains a set of base items common to all .NET MyServices, and is optionally extended by each service to includeservice-specific global information.

This schema outline illustrates the layout and meaning of theinformation found in the system document for the myDevices service.<sys:system changeNumber =“...” instanceId=“...” xmlns:hs=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/core” xmlns:sys=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2002/04/myDevices/system”>_(1..1) <hs:systemVersion changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:versionminorVersion=“...” majorVersion=“...” qfe=“...”buildNumber=“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:productReleaseName>_(1..1)</hs:productReleaseName>   <hs:productImplementationName>_(1..1)</hs:productImplementationName>  </hs:version>   <hs:buildDate>_(1..1)</hs:buildDate>  <hs:buildDetails machine=“...” type=“...” branch=“...”official=“...”>_(1..1)</hs:buildDetails>  </hs:systemVersion> <hs:roleMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:scope id=“...”>_(0..unbounded)    <hs:name xml:lang=“...”dir=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:name>    <hs:shape base=“...”>_(1..1)    <hs:include select=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:include>    <hs:exclude select=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:exclude>    </hs:shape>  </hs:scope>   <hs:roleTemplate name=“...”>_(0..unbounded)   <hs:fullDescription xml:lang=“...”dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:fullDescription>    <hs:method name=“...”scopeRef=“...”>_(0..unbounded)</hs:method>   </hs:roleTemplate> </hs:roleMap>  <hs:methodMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)  <hs:method name=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:method> </hs:methodMap>  <hs:schemaMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)  <hs:schema namespace=“...” schemaLocation=“...”alias=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:schema>  </hs:schemaMap> <hs:wsdlMap changeNumber =“...” id =“...”>_(1..1)   <hs:wsdlwsdlLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:wsdl>   <hs:discodiscoLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:disco>   <hs:wsilwsilLocation=“...”>_(0..unbounded) {any}</hs:wsil>  </hs:wsdlMap>  {any}</sys:system>

The meaning of the attributes and elements shown in the preceding sampledocument fragment are listed below. The /system (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element encapsulates the system document for theMicrosoft®.NET Notifications service. The /system/@changeNumber(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/@instanceId (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/version (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1),/system/systemVersion/version/@minorVersion (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attributes identify the system and version information of the .NETservice.

The /system/systemVersion/version/@majorVersion (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the major version number of the .NETservice, while the /system/systemVersion/version/@qfe (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) attribute specifies the quick-fix engineering (QFE) versionnumber of the .NET service. The/system/systemVersion/version/@buildNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the build number of the .NET service. The/system/systemVersion/version/productReleaseName (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element defines the major product release string (forexample, “.NET My Services Beta 1”.)

The /system/systemVersion/version/productImplementationName (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element defines the class of the service to differentiatebetween different implementations. The system/system Version/buildDate(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element defines the date and time that the.NET My Services system was built, in UTC (Z-relative) form. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@machine (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the machine that generated the build. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@type (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the type of build. A value of chk indicates thatthis is a checked or debug build. A value of fre indicates that this isa retail build.

The /system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@branch (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the software branch ID for the source code thatcontributed to this build. The/system/systemVersion/buildDetails/@official (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute indicates whether the build was produced by an official buildprocess (value of yes), or an unofficial process (value of no).

The /system/roleMap (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/@id (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/scope (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)element defines a scope which may be referred to by roles within thisroleMap to indicate what portions of the document are visible to thisrole for the specified method, along with the /system/roleMap/scope/@id(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/scope/name (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) elements.

The /system/roleMap/scope/name/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)required attribute is used to specify a language code compliant with RFC3066 as described in RFC 3066; more information is available from theW3C. If the language code is unknown, a value of “und” should be used,as per RFC 3066. Applications are expected to undertake a reasonableeffort to determine the input language and store it with the data.Applications should preserve a previously set xml:lang attribute incases in which the string itself in not changed by the application.

The /system/roleMap/scope/name/@dir (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optionalattribute specifies the default layout direction for the localizedstring. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr (left to right).The /system/roleMap/scope/shape (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/scope/shape/@base (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the initial set of nodes visible through the shape.A value of t indicates that the shape is initialized to include allpossible nodes relative to the shape that is currently in effect. Forinstance, each role defines a scope containing a shape. When defining ashape for a role, the value t indicates all possible nodes available inthe specified document for this role. When defining a shape in an ACLentry, a value of t means all of the nodes visible in the shape for thecomputed role. When using a shape in an hsdl operation, a value of tindicates all of the possible nodes selected by the hsdl operation(relative to the ACL shape which itself is relative to the role'sshape). The value nil indicates the opposite of t, which is the emptynode set. Nodes from this set may then be included into the shape.

The /system/roleMap/scope/shape/include (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the set of nodes that should beincluded into the shape relative to the possible set of nodes indicatedby the base attribute. The /system/roleMap/scope/shape/include/@select(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) /system/roleMap/scope/shape/exclude(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the set of nodesthat should be excluded from the shape relative to the possible set ofnodes indicated by the base attribute. The/system/roleMap/scope/shape/exclude/@select (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/roleMap/roleTemplate (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element encapsulates the definition of a role. Theattribute set for this element includes the document class that thisroleTemplate refers to, the name of the roleTemplate, and the priorityof the roleTemplate.

The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/@name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the name of the role. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)element contains a description of this roleTemplate that specifies thecapabilities a caller will have when accessing information through thisrole. The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription/@xml:lang(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify alanguage code compliant with RFC 3066 as described in RFC 3066; moreinformation is available from the W3C. If the language code is unknown,a value of “und” should be used, as per RFC 3066. Applications areexpected to undertake a reasonable effort to determine the inputlanguage and store it with the data. Applications should preserve apreviously set xml:lang attribute in cases in which the string itself innot changed by the application. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/fullDescription/@dir (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layout directionfor the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left) and ltr(left to right).

The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element specifies the methods available within thisroleTemplate by name and by scope. When a subject maps to aroleTemplate, the method in the request must match one of these elementsfor the message to continue to flow. If the method exists, the dataavailable to the method is a function of the scope referenced by thismethod, combined with an optional scope referenced by the role definedin the roleList. The /system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method/@name(minOccurs=maxOccurs=1) element specifies the name of the method. The/system/roleMap/roleTemplate/method/@scopeRef (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the scope within this document that is in effect forthis method.

The /system/methodMap (minOccurs=maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/methodMap/method(minOccurs=0 axOccurs=unbounded) fields provide method-related data. The/system/methodMap/method/@name (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the name of a method available within this service. The/system/methodMap/method/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)provides for extensibility.

The /system/schemaMap (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)/system/schemaMap/schema(minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) provide schema map data. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@namespace (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the namespace URI of this schema. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@schemaLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)attribute specifies the location (in the form of a URI) of the resourcecontaining the schema. When a schema is reachable through a variety ofURIs, one schema element will exist for each location. The/system/schemaMap/schema/@alias (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributespecifies the preferred alias to be used, if possible, when manipulatinginformation covered by this schema in the context of this service. The/system/schemaMap/schema/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded)/system/wsdlMap(minOccurs=maxOccurs=1)/system/wsdlMap/@changeNumber (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1)/system/wsdlMap/@id (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) provideWSDL-related data. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) element is used to specify the location of a WSDLfile for this service. Multiple entries may exist pointing to the samefile hosted in multiple locations, or to variations on the contentwithin the WSDL files. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl/@wsdlLocation(minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attribute is a URI that specifies the locationof the WSDL file. The /system/wsdlMap/wsdl/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded) provides for extensibility.

The /system/wsdlMap/disco (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element isused to specify the location of a DISCO file for this service. Multipleentries may exist pointing to the same file hosted in multiplelocations, or to variations on the content within the DISCO files. The/system/wsdlMap/disco/@discoLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributeis a URI that specifies the location of the DISCO file. The/system/wsdlMap/disco/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) providesfor extensibility.

The /system/wsdlMap/wsil (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) element isused to specify the location of a WSIL file for this service. Multipleentries may exist pointing to the same file hosted in multiplelocations, or to variations on the content within the WSIL files. The/system/wsdlMap/wsil/@wsilLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) attributeis a URI that specifies the location of the WSIL file. The/system/wsdlMap/wsil/{any} (minOccurs=0maxOccurs=unbounded)/system/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)field provides for extensibility.

.NET Devices (myDevices)—Methods

The myDevices service supports the standard methods as described in theaforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/017,680.

Notification Platform

In general, the present invention provides a method and system for usingvarious schemas and services to provide regularized notificationhandling, and provide an opportunity for user control and normalizationof the operation of policies across different information types andcontexts. The information-service schemas and services are combined tobuild a valuable, general purpose content-sensitive andcontext-sensitive information service that provides a notificationplatform. In general, via the notification platform, informationservices communicate information to recipient devices of users thatsubscribe to those services, by formatting the information according todefined schemas. Information sources include e-mail providers,voice-mail providers, online auction services, news services, financialservices, new classes of automated agent-based services such asautomated scheduling and travel assistance, and so forth. Recipientdevices include cellular telephones, pagers, personal computers,personal digital assistants, and the like.

FIG. 5 represents a notification platform 500 constructed in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention. In general, a number ofinformation sources 502 ₁-502 _(m) feed notification information to aninformation agent service 504, such as a service having an informationagent instance per subscriber. In keeping with the present invention,the notifications are regularized via information encoded in a definednotification schema 506, and, for example, notification information issent in an XML-formatted document fragment based on the schema. Notethat the information sources may be arranged with internal userpreference filtering or the like, so as to only selectively sendnotifications to subscribers. For example, an information source thatupdates a user on a stock price only sends a notification with a stock'sprice data at the market close, or when a stock changes by more than xpercent, so that the information sources do not flood the informationagent service 504 by sending unwanted notifications too frequently. Forencoding preferences at sources, a standardized format (e.g., schema)for source preferences and device preferences may be used, as describedbelow and as represented in FIG. 5 by source preference schemas 503₁-503 _(n).

The notification schema 506 represents metadata about the subscriptionof a service to a source of information, as well as representing detailsabout that information, including the nature, importance, timecriticality or urgency of information, disposition over time ofinformation provided by a message, and message handling preferences. Anexample of how a notification schema may be arranged and the informationthat may be represented thereby is represented in TABLE 1A below: TABLE1A Notification Schema Header Information identity: service, class,title (uuid), trackingID, author (incl. on behalf info), author-type(person vs. agent) Creation time  Birth time: time indicated by authorbirth time for message, taken as the initial time, t_(o).  Servicereceipt time: time received by notification service Subscription path  Sources subscription operations path (details on subscribing andunsubscribing)   Source logo and graphics path (source logo and graphicsinformation)   Source preference path   Administrative contact Privacyand authorization   Authorizations for reading and writing to fields byproxies, people, groups Transmission history (delays beforetransmission, prior attempts and times, where in processing chain ismessage) Reliability and confirmation   Confirmation requirement    Actions on failure type x        Journal on condition       Re-route on condition        Confirmation policy Body Contentcomponents   Content access     Embedded     Ptr (url)   Contentproperties     Text, properties     Graphics, properties    Audiovisual, properties     UI content and controls Devicepreferences/hints Bandwidth requirements   To/from device Mediarendering requirements   uri   Text, graphics (x,y), audio, etc. Userinteraction requirements   Device genre     Small screen with functions{ }     Rich client   User input capabilities     Special inputs    Text input- full keyboard, alternate     Cursor control     Speech    Audio     Videocapture    Client UI components      Local UI codeand interfaces      e.g., Windows ® client modules, API Backchannel andrelay requirements   External messaging backchannel    Backchannelproperties    Confirmation abilities     Local receipt     Userconfirmation   Device context status     e.g., In use, in motion, appstatus, activity status, last use   Local relay for platform services    APIs to local client services        Classes Routing and alertinghints  Delivery Routing   Single Device   Device Set: { }   DeviceSequence until confirmation: { } Allow for conditioning on context andcontent     Condition 1       Device x     Condition 2       Devicesequence: { }     Condition n       Device Set: { }   Delivery Timing  Best Effort   Deliver by t    Action on Fail   Bounded deferral t    Conditions t:     Conditions flow <t: { }     Conditions hold <t: {}   Other prototypical policies   Local Delivery Timing (Device x)  Best Effort   Deliver by t    Action on Fail   Bounded deferral t    Conditions t:     Conditions flow <t: { }     Conditions hold <t: {}   Other prototypical policies Device-specific hints   Device policy(alerting, timing, fidelity tradeoffs, UI, store): Device i    Conditional policies       Condition 1        Policy 1      Condition 2         Policy 2         .       Condition n       Policy n Information Value Capture core notion of discrete orscalar value of importance and/or urgency. Taken as a corerepresentation of information value for notification systems “urgency”of messaging or communication.     Basic      Discrete: High, Normal,Low      Scalar: Range: Low..High [1..100]     Extended      Functiontype, parameters     Linear (initial value, rate of loss)      Deadline, (initial value, total loss at time t)       Exp,(initial value, half-life       Sigmoid, (initial value, parameters)      Step, (initial value, loss steps by time)       Complex (provide),e.g., Shelf, shelf-life + function/parameter       Other (parameters)    Conditional value      Condition 1       Value: { }      Condition 2      Value: { }         .         .      Condition n       Value: { }Information Volatility   Describes the disposition of the message overtime.    Time to live (TTL) without review: delete after time x    Action on delete (delete only, log, resend to other user, etc.)   Time to live (TTL) on device x     Action on delete (delete only,log, resend to other user, etc.)    Replace: Replace uuid, class, orthread Id, etc. received most recently    Replace all: deliver, anddelete all of same uuid, class, or thread Id, etc.    received earlier   Thread ID: Append to prior class, title, ID    Update attribute x inprior title, ID and delete    Default to delete upon review    Defaultto journal upon review    Other info volatility policies    :   Conditional Volatility:       Condition 1       .       .      Condition n

In general, a notification schema should consider allowing routingpolicies to be written directly into a schema by source processes,versus always relying on a downstream information agent to infer routingpolicies from attributes of content, urgency and the like. Thus, somedirect specification of policy preferences at the source should beenabled, and a notification schema should make it straightforward toencode policy via direct writing of routing preferences and policiesinto the schema, as hints.

The schema for the notification header may provide notification class,title, and a subscription identifier to identify the notification, andthe notification may be stamped with a unique identifier and time. Theoverall .NET service provides the identity of the caller, applicationand platform. Other information may describe whether an automated agentor a person generated the notification, information volatility (e.g.,Time to live data, replaceability with update, and so forth. Still otherheader information may specify whether the notification is replaceablewith sameTitle, sameClass, and so on.

The schema for notification body provides attributes that detail thetype of content in the body, e.g., textOnly, textAudio, textGraphics,AudioGraphics, and so on, and the size of the notification (e.g., inbytes). Notifications can also express their value, for example asscalar numbers, cost amounts, or qualitative tags (high, medium, low),so that the information agent service can determine whether and how todeliver the notification, as described below. Notifications also havethe ability to express dynamics of value, that is, how values changeover time with delays. Multiple functions are available, includingdeadline, stepwise, half-life and sigmoid functions.

In the schema, consideration may also be given to a privacy, authoritymodel for writing and reading attributes of metadata to minimize“spamming” via the information agent. To this end, a standard tag forrepresenting authorship of key fields (which fields in the schema,written or overwritten by which author and/or process) may be employed.The notification may thus provide security and authorization, bymaintaining a record of who wrote and who can read attributes, as wellas authenticating senders. Consideration may also be given to allowingthe option of encoding preference information on rendering fidelitytradeoffs, summarization options, subscription information, path toremote-stored preferences, and so forth in the notification schemaitself. Also, as with other schemas described herein, a schema shouldemploy required and optional fields to keep header size and processinglightweight. To this end, the use of standardized schemas that arepotentially small or compact subsets of the notification schema (andsimilarly other schemas) may be used to keep messages lightweightrelative to complete or extended schemas. Still further, tradeoffs inrichness verses the need for header extensions for handling of real-timecommunications should be considered, as well as informationalnotifications (e.g., incoming and desired channel).

The notification schema can contain information about preferences forrendering of content in different ways, including preferences forrendering different approximations of the complete content of a message,depending on device capabilities. Content to be rendered can containmultiple components or types of information, e.g., text, HTML, graphics,video, audio, and combinations. To date, content encodings like MIMEallow different devices to render a message based on rendering abilitiesand encoded policies. For a cross-device notification platform,different formulations of content can be encoded and transmitted fordifferent devices. Also, preferences in the notification schema can beencoded to indicate preferences for different devices given the contentat hand, and how different devices should best handle the rendering ofportions of content, whether the content is of a single or of multipletypes of information, based on device capabilities.

Rendering preferences allow for a piece of content to be summarized indifferent ways depending on the device rendering capabilities. Also,information about the ability to render and the fidelity of renderingmay be an important consideration for making decisions about waiting fora device with an ability to render a more complete rendition of theinformation versus sending an approximate version of the informationmore immediately. For example, consider that a piece of content hasgraphics and text, e.g., directions to a location with a map graphic. Acell phone might be available now, but the device might only be able torender text on its small display. If the notification platform waits anhour, a desktop device with the ability to render both graphics and textmay become available.

Content can be encoded in different ways for rendering by devices withdifferent capabilities. In one approach, the content contains a distinctformulation for different classes of rendering ability. For example, anextended piece of text, containing more detailed descriptions, might bemade available for the situation where the graphic is not available. Fordevices with text and graphics capability, content containing a shortertext description coupled with a graphic might be made available.Alternatively, a single piece of multipart content may be provided. Insuch a case, devices make an effort to render portions of the singlemultipart content that they can render, and drop the other information.Given these different approaches to handling content on differentdevices, there may be value in encoding preferences about rendering,and, potentially also, encoding different formulations of content thatthese preferences address. Such preference information can be used in anumber of ways. As an example, a notification manager can provide valueby reasoning about whether it is better to wait until a richer client isavailable, versus sending a portion of the content (e.g., directionswithout a map graphic). In another scenario, different devices may havedifferent costs of usage. A notification manager may have the ability toreason about the informational value versus losses associated withrendering portions or summaries of content, based on the renderingabilities and bandwidth available. Also, a source or user may havedifferent preferences about different subsets and types of renderings ondifferent available devices.

The system is able to use hints per encodings related to matching devicecapabilities (e.g., fidelity) and rendering tradeoffs stamped by thesource into notification schema, to use source preferences, or to followpolicies based on a user's preferences about how to render content withmultiple components (across media types) when that content cannot befully rendered.

One way in which this may be accomplished is for the schema informationto include preference ordering on approaches to content rendering.Another way is to provide a fidelity measure with each alternativerendering option. By way of example, consider an example of anotification about a traffic jam, containing directions about re-routingthe user. The information contains audio on directions, a textdescription, and a map graphic. In this example, rendering on a devicethat can handle all three components (without truncation for the text)is assigned a fidelity of 1.0, while a device capable of handling onlythe map graphic and text is assigned a fidelity of 0.75, and one thatcan only handle the text is assigned a fidelity of 0.5. Thesepreferences can be encoded as fidelity tags on different rendering typesby the source, or can be stored as general policies in the userinformation preferences that overwrite or reorder the preferencesencoded initially in the notification schema by the source.

As described above, several encodings are possible. For example, thesource can send separate content blobs and indicate that the orderrepresents the preferences. That is, the first one would be the best,then the next, and so on. Alternatively, each type of rendering set ofabilities can be assigned a fidelity value between 0 and 1.0. Suchfidelity values can be made content and context dependent. Further, afunction may be encoded that captures how the fidelity will change withapproximate renderings or the like. For example, the notification schemacan contain a description of a functional form of fidelity for textrendering devices that allows fidelity to be assigned to any particularpiece of text content, as a function of the portion of text that can bedisplayed. For example, fidelity can range from 1.0 to 0 as text istruncated from the complete text to truncated (pruned) text, as somefunction of the fraction of words remaining in the truncated text.

Thus, for each content rendering blob (of data), a fidelity may belisted. For a multipart, multicomponent blob, alternate renderings, eachassociated with a fidelity value, may be listed. User preferences may beaccessed when decisions are made about timing and routing ofinformation.

As an alternative to (or in addition to) being sent as its own message,schematized notification data may be embedded as an overlay on existingmessaging and communication systems. For example, notification schemametadata may be included in the header (or hidden in the content) ofemail. Another example of providing a notification via a communicationsystem includes overlaying the notification metadata on a telephonecommunication. In general, a schematized notification may accompany anytransmission of data, and, as mentioned above, the encoding for thevarious schema metadata (such as the notification schema metadata) canbe in different formats, e.g., the metadata may be encoded in MIME forSMTP (email), in XML for SOAP messages, or SIP, depending on theprotocol and application.

Moreover, the development of a standard method for overlayingcontext-sensitivity and content-sensitivity on any key properties withconditional statements may be implemented, as in the following example:Conditional Delivery:    Condition 1: If present at a full-clientmachine    . 2: If not present on a full-client machine    .   Condition n

As can be appreciated, the present invention is not limited to any onenotification schema, but rather includes numerous alternatives for anygiven schema. For example, the outline below describes information thatmay be used in an alternative notification schema. Note that elements insuch a schema may be merged with other relevant elements to assemble anew schema, have other elements added thereto or removed therefrom, andotherwise modified and combined to form a schema. In general, theschemas and/or schema outlines described herein only provide examples ofthe type of information that may be used in a schema. TABLE 1B providessuch an example: TABLE 1B <myNotifications changeNumder=”...”>  <notification   changeNumber=”...”  uuid=”...”  replace=”...” threadId=”...”  class=”...”  id=”...”>0..unbounded   <identityHeadertype=”user|automated”>    <senderUserReference/>    <branding    logo=”...”     alternativeText=”...”    />    <!-- enable entitiesto add branding information     so that this alert shows through (e.g.,an     URL to content, alt text, and/or an {any}     field.    -->  </identityHeader>   <timeInformation>   <creationTime>1..1</creationTime>   <receivedTime>1..1</receivedTime>   </timeInformation>  <subscriptionInfo>0..1</subscriptionInfo>[LF1]  <subscriptionContact>0..unbounded    <cat ref=”...”>1..1</cat>   <email>1..1</email>    <name>0..1</name>   </subscriptionContact>  <transmissionHistory>    <attemptedDelivery>0..unbounded    <time/>1..1     {any}    </attemptedDelivery>    <routingInfosequence=”...”>     <!-tracks the hops the notification took to getthere--     >    </routingInfo>0..unbounded    {any}  </transmissionHistory>   <!--Reliability and confirmation -->  <confirmation required=”true|false”/>   <failure type=”...”   policyId=”pointer to id”>0..unbounded    <action>    <journalset=”true|false” condition=”???”/>0..1    <reroute set=”true|false”condition=”???”    path=”someURI”/>0..1    </action>   </failure>   <!--Body -->   <title xml:lang=”...” dir=”...”/>   <content   fidelity=”percent value indicating how good the content is”   >   <url/>    <contentType/>    <contentTransferEncoding/>    <size>   <rendererLocation>url to rendering      tool</rendererLocation>0..1   <!--  content should also support a pointer to MIME parts     neednot resend this each time in multiple content     blocks    -->   <!--Device preferences     Used to help an info agent figure out which pieceof     content to try to render on which   -->   <bandwidth to=”...”from=”...”/>   <graphics x=”...” y=”...” colors=”...”/>   <audio/><!--need input on what audio req's look like -->   <userInput   keyboard=”none|full|alternate”    cursorControl=”...”   speech=”none|[name or uri of speech engine”    audio=”...”   video=”...”   />   <clientUi path=”...”></clientUi>   {any} </content> <!-- Backchannel and relay requirements -->  <xsd:element  name=“backChannel”   type=“backChannelType”   minOccurs=“0”  maxOccurs=“1”  /> <xsd:complexType name=“backChannelType”> <xsd:annotation>   <xsd:documentation>    This element addresses theability of the endpoint device to    send a message back to a component(e.g., the user InfoAgent)    that wants to have knowledge that thenotification got    through.   </xsd:documentation>  </xsd:annotation> <xsd:sequence>   <xsd:element    name=“confirmAbilities”   type=“hs:string”    minOccurs=“0”    maxOccurs=“unbounded”    >   <xsd:annotation>     <xsd:documentation>      this elements describesthe device's abilities      to confirm of notification delivery and     processing. for example, “onReceive” means      to confirm when thedevice receives a      notification “onOpen” means to confirm when     a user reviews a notification “explicit”: means      to confirmwhen a user explicitly expresses      the request to confirm e.g. push abutton) a      notification (alternatively implement with      enum typeof “onReceive”, “onOpen”,      “explicit”, “onReceive+onOpen”,     “onReceive+explicit”, “onOpen+explicit”,     “onReceive+onOpen+explicit” -->     </xsd:documentation>   </xsd:annotation>   </xsd:element>   <xsd:element   name=“deviceContext”    type=“hs:string”    minOccurs=“0”   maxOccurs=“unbounded”    >     <xsd:annotation>     <xsd:documentation>       this element describes the device      status a device is capable to send       back to a component. Thepossible       statuses are in use or not, in motion or       not,application status on the device,       last time the device was used.     </xsd:documentation>     </xsd:annotation>    </xsd:element>   <xsd:element     name=“localRelay”     type=“xsd:boolean”    minOccurs=“0”     maxOccurs=“1”     >     <xsd:annotation>     <xsd:documentation>       can the device sends back the list of      rich applications it could relay the       notification to      <!-- I think the list of rich UI       applications should be sentin the       back channel communication instead       of be listed here     -->     </xsd:documentation>    </xsd:annotation>   </xsd:element> </xsd:sequence> </xsd:complexType> <!-- Routing and alerting hints --> <routingConditions>   <!--    May alternatively use a single device,device set, etc. Any    condition uses a pointer to myDevices   -->   <if select=”...”>    <deviceId/>0..1</deviceId>   <deviceCat>[concept of a sequence, points to a     category of devices.]   </deviceCat>   </if>   <else select=”...”/>  </routingConditions> <deliveryTiming bestEffort=”true|false”>   <deliverBy time”...”>   <onFail action=”...”/>   </deliverBy>   <!--    Don't do anythinguntil ... hold this until ... Unless X happens    ... or    Do as soonas possible, but hold it until a maximum of time t    Bounded deferral t    Conditions t:     Conditions flow <t: { }     Value: { }    .    .    Condition n      Value: { }  </deliveryTiming><informationVolatility>  <timeToLive deleteAfter=”...”  deviceId=”*|deviceId”   delete=”true|false”   log=”true|false”  retransmit=”true|false”  />0..unbounded  <!--    Alternatives mayinclude:    Replace: replace uuid, class or thread Id, etc. receivedmost    recently. Replace all: deliver, and delete all of same uuid,   class or thread Id etc. received earlier Thread Id: append to   prior class, title, ID Update attribute X in prior title, ID and   delete Default to delete upon review Default to journal upon   review Other info volatility policies  -->

Returning to FIG. 5, in general, the information agent service 504receives the notifications from the information sources 502 ₁-502_(n),along with information from other sources that tell the informationagent service whether, and if so, how and when to route a notificationto a user's device or devices 508 ₁-508_(n). When a notification is sentto a device (e.g., 508 ₂), the notification information may beconfigured according to a device schema 510, which as described above,includes data that describes the device. For example, a notificationsent to a personal computer over a broadband internet connection mayinclude a large amount of data, such as an email message withattachments, while the same notification sent to a cellular phone may belimited in its content to only the first few lines of text of themessage. Thus, in keeping with one aspect of the invention, thenotification message received at a device may be tailored to thatdevice.

In general, a device schema describes metadata that representsinformation about one or more devices (e.g., user devices) that areenlisted or provisioned by a service. The device schema represents thedata directed to various device properties, including information usedby the information agent service 504 about the connection, the renderingabilities, and interactive abilities of devices 508 ₁-508 _(n). Anexample outline of how a device schema may be arranged, along with theinformation that may be represented thereby, is represented in TABLES2A, 2B and 3 below: TABLE 2A Device Schema  Device Name, device type,uuid  Connection information  Bandwidth   To/from device   Mediarendering abilities    uri    Text, graphics (x,y), audio, etc.  Localnotification manager properties   Local policy configuration   Path tolocal policy information  Alerting modalities    Basic alerting    Visual cues: type     Tone type x, vol. y     Silent      Richclient with alerting api/UI     Alternate notification rendering UI Journal ability    Memory capacity  User interaction support    Devicegenre    Small screen with functions { }    Rich client      Usagepreferences      Typical viewing distance      Typical input methodology   User input capabilities     Special inputs     Text input-fullkeyboard, alternate     Cursor control     Speech     Audio    Videocapture    Client UI components     Local UI code andinterfaces      e.g., Windows client modules, API Backchannel and relay    External messaging backchannel      Backchannel properties     Events, class     Confirmation abilities       Local receipt    User confirmation    Device context status      e.g., In use, inmotion, app status, activity status, last use    Local relay forplatform services      APIs to local client services       Classes

TABLE 2B Alternative Device Schema Outline <!-- Device schema -->[may beinherited to myNotifications schema]  <device id=”...”>   <namexml:lang=”...” dir=”...”>1..1</name>   <type>1..1</type>  <connectionInformation>    <!--  -->   </connectionInformation>  <bandwidth to=”...” from=”...”/>    <uri/>   <text type=”plain|html”/>  <graphics x=”...” y=”...” colors=”...”/>   <audio/>   <messageLimit   size=”...”    onExceed=”chunk|truncate|compress”   />   <!-- Localnotification manager properties    Local policy configuration    Path tolocal policy configuration   -->   <alert    type=”???”   tone=”true|false”    volume=”...”   alternateRenderingUi=”???”>0..unbounded   </alert>   <journalmemory=”...”>0..1</journal>   <userInteraction>    <!-- shared schemafrom above -->    <bandwidth to=”...” from=”...”/>    <uri/><!-- what isthis? -->    <text type=”plain|html”/>    <graphics x=”...” y=”...”colors=”...”/>    <audio/>    <userInput    keyboard=”none|full|alternate”     cursorControl=”...”    speech=”none|[name or uri of speech engine”     audio=”...”    video=”...”    />    <clientUi path=”...”></clientUi>    {any}     </userInteraction>

TABLE 3 XML-formatted simple Device Schema <myDevices>  <device name=“ ”uuid=“ ”>   <extension type=“ ” uuid=“ ”></extension>   <friendly name/>  <physicalAttributes>    <deviceType/>    <cpuFamily name = “ ”/>   <operatingSystem>     <osName/>     <osVersion/>     <osLanguage/>   </operatingSystem>    <inputMethods/>    <renderingMethods>    <textOnly/>     <graphicsHeight/>     <graphicsWidth/>    <graphicsColorDepth />     <audio/>     <alertingModes/>   </renderingMethods>    <network>     <transport name =“ ” address=“ ”active =“ ”>      <downstreamBandwidth/>      <upstreamBandwidth/>    </transport>    </network>   </physicalAttributes>  <informationAttributes>    <preferredViewingDistance/>   <preferredInputMethod/>    <preferredAlertMode/>    <userLanguage/>  </informationAttributes>  </device> </myDevices>

As can be seen, a Devices schema enables the information agent serviceto modify the notification message for the device based on variouscriteria, including its type, CPU, operating system, audio and videocapabilities, rendering methods, network transport capabilities and soforth.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, in addition tonotifications received from the information sources 502 ₁-502 _(m) andthe device information, the information agent service 504 receivesinformation from other sources, and based on that information, decideswhether to forward a notification to a user, and if so, how (e.g., towhich device) and when to do so. For example, even though a user maywant to be notified about a five percent or greater stock price swing,the user may not want such a notification to be sent to the user'scellular phone when the user is in an important meeting, although at thesame time the user may want the cellular phone active to receive callsfrom meeting participants. In general, the information agent service 504queries other services for the data needed to make the decision,although other means of accessing the data (e.g., via a cache, or viaregular updates sent from the services is also feasible).

One such set of other information comprises user notificationpreferences 514, which are received as data formatted (regularized)according to an information preferences schema 516. For example, auser's default routing information and explicit settings via rules,assignments, or learned preferences is stored here. To this end, theinformation preferences schema 516 contains settings on subscriptionsand associated preferences and tradeoffs, including preferences andtradeoffs about value composition from multiple attributes, valuenormalization, routing, and overall handling. An example of how aninformation preferences schema may be arranged and the information thatmay be represented thereby is represented in TABLE 4A below, along withadditional example preference related information in TABLE 4B: TABLE 4AInformation Preferences Schema Outline Subscription S₁..S_(n) Connection details  Subscription history  Remote policy path Administrative path Global throttle  Top n  Max messages / time   Maxmessages type x / time   Max messages / device  Preferred chunking  Conditional throttle   Condition 1    Throttle policy   Condition 2   Throttle policy    .   Condition n    Throttle policy Valuenormalization, S₁..S_(n)  Normalization type, parameter  Dependent:value:= f(source value)  Independent: value:= x   Value composition(type)    Attributes    Value(Attributes)  Conditional value   Condition1    Value: { }   Condition 2    Value: { }    .    .   Condition n   Value: { } Info Volatility preferences Privacy and revelation Authorizations for proxies, people, groups Routing preferences  Conditional routing   Condition 1    Routing policy   Condition 2   Routing policy    .   Condition n    Routing policy Alertingmodalities  Alerting (Value, Device, Context)   Rich client: UIpreferences (Value, app, activity context)   Conditional alerting  Condition 1    Alerting policy   Condition 2    Alerting policy    .  Condition n    Alerting policy Reliability and confirmation  Actionson failure type x   Journal on condition   Re-route on condition Confirmation policy Rendering preferences  Summarization enabled  Fidelity quality tradeoffs    Loss of value with     Summarization x(e.g., truncation of text, dropping audio     channel, droppinggraphics, etc.)

TABLE 4B Information Preferences Schema Outline <!-- Preference schema-->  [may be separately stored]   <policySection>     <!-- a section forpolicy like “when failure occurs, send to X else     send to Y. Needs anID so can be referred     to from other sources.    --> <subscription>0..unbounded   <connection/>   <!-- may track this bystandardmethods   -->   <policy uri=”...”/>   <admin uri=”...”/> </subscription>  <messageLimits   type=”*|type|device”   max=”...”  timeUnit=”day|workWeek|week|month|year”   timeValue=”...”>0..unbounded  <cat ref=”...”> <!-- can be used to store whether this is a limit for       message type or message device     -->   </cat>  </messageLimits> <throttle>   <if select=”...”/>     <policy/>   </if>   .   . </throttle>  <valueNormalization>   <if select=”...”/>     <actionamount=”...”      measurement=”scalarlpercent”/>   </if>   <!-- howstrongly a user cares about whether or not someone has     asked for aconfirmation.   -->    </valueNormalization>

Note that a main or global preferences schema and a source preferencesschema (per source) may be provided. More particularly, as representedin FIG. 5, a user may encode and store preferences 503 ₁-503 _(n) at thesources, and also encode the main/global preferences 514. The globalpreferences schema and source preferences schema may be the same, buttheir usage is different.

In general, source preferences 503 ₁-503 _(n) may be set up and storedlocally at each source 502 ₁-502 _(n). The source preferences 503 ₁-503_(n) are used to control emissions of notifications, rather than havingcoarse emission policies that provide a flood of emitted notifications,as such a flood of emissions would then require a significant amount ofcentral filtering. The user's source preferences may be set up at a mainpreference site, or when users make an initial subscription at a sourcesite, (e.g., at a travel site, an auction site, and so forth). In thismanner, information sources will have consistent user interfaces andguidelines to provide users with a place to set up a subscription and toencode preferences about the emission of messages from the third-partysites, as well as how the sites will stamp attributes in notificationschema by the third-party sites.

The source preferences may work in conjunction with the globalpreferences to provide notifications in accordance with the user'srequirements. For example, after an initial set up of a subscription, aninformation source may stamp properties such as urgency values in thenotification schema that annotates the notification. However, a user canalso store in the global/main (cross-source) notification preferences514 information about how to modify such attributes, based on a fullrewrite, or a re-weighting (e.g., for scalar values of urgency) offields. Thus, a notification stamped highly urgent at the source via theencoded preferences stored at the source, may be modified to normalurgency, for example, on weekends.

FIG. 6 represents an example way of setting and using such sourcepreferences 503 ₁ at an information source 502 ₁. For example, the userinterface may appear when the user is otherwise scheduling andpurchasing flights, notices that the information service is aparticipating member in the .Net Notification service, and clicks on anappropriate button.

In general, a subscription process 602 such as a script or otherexecutable code provides a user with an appropriate user interface 604.In the example of FIG. 6, the information source deals with flightinformation and provides a user interface form or the like comprisingone or more flight-related or other appropriate selections. In thissimple example, the user can request a particular urgency value set upwith notifications, or no notifications at all. The preferences aboutsome conditions for firing notifications from the source may be storedin the source preferences store 503 ₁, encoded with a source preferencesschema format 606, which may be the same as other preference schemas.

Sometime later, when the information source fires the notification(e.g., a real time alert) 608, a notification agent 610 of theinformation agent service 504 for the user will determine how to handlethe notification based on the context sources 522 and global preferencedata 514, as described above. For example, as represented in FIG. 6, thenotification may be routed to the user's mobile device, desktop orvoicemail service. The notification may also be journalled for laterdelivery, killed, or some combination of these other (non-killed)options.

In one implementation, to make the source preference store accessiblefor initial set up and/or later modification, (regardless of whetheraccess is performed locally or by HTML content or the like sent from aremote source), pointers (paths) are stored in the main/globalnotification preference store 514. The main preference store 514 thusprovides a single, unified location for users to control the user'sdistributed preference information, preferences on emission, establishinitial value stamping, make changes in subscriptions and notificationpolicies, change, turn on, turn off, and modify multiple sources, changedevices provisioned, and so forth. Both the source and main stores maybe arranged to abide by the same notification preference schema, or acustom-tailored source schema (e.g., one that is lighter weight) may beemployed. In this manner, the user is in control via the mainnotification preferences. Note that via this single point of control, anautomated agent mechanism may take the user's main notificationpreferences and distribute appropriate data to the sources to moreoptimally control emissions. For example, if a user wants everynotification killed on weekends except telephone calls, but only setsthis up in the main preference store 514, an automated agent can examinethe main preference store 514, and realize that it is more efficient totell each non-telephone information source to not emit the notificationat all on weekends, rather than having the emissions fired but simplykilled at the notification agent 610. The automated agent may thus makethe appropriate settings on each information source on the user'sbehalf.

As can be appreciated, the usage of a defined notification schema toannotate notifications into a set of regularized properties, along withthe above-described source and global preferences model, allows aconceptual normalizing of the handling (e.g., routing, deliberation,alerting, rendering) of notifications. For example, via the schemas,notifications may be normalized such that a voicemail message from afriend and an auction website's announcement may be each considered viathe same information agent machinery. This is because semantically it isknown what the attributes and properties represented in the schema are,such that these attributes and properties are processed and/or stampedvia procedures that consider information from a user's preferencesand/or automated assignments. Thus, automation, plus the user's tuningof a preference via a user interface, equalizes or normalizes thehandling of data in accordance with a user's desired settings. By way ofexample, the value property in the notification schema for a voicemailmessage may be initially stamped automatically in a manner that gives ita higher urgency value than a user would prefer, while the valueproperty automatically assigned by the auction website may be too low ofan urgency value for the user's preference. Because the urgencyinformation is maintained in both the source and the main preferences, auser's secondary processing may re-weight or normalize the urgencies,e.g., by increasing the urgency of the auction house's notificationwhile decreasing the urgency of the voicemail message. In sum, thesystem provides the regularized annotation of notification data into aset of defined properties that can be acted on, re-weighted and/orrewritten by other procedures under the control of the user. In thismanner, an external process may set initial or coarse values for theproperties stamped in accordance with a notification schema, with thoseproperties later modified (e.g., re-scaled) based on a user'spreferences and the nature of the information.

Returning to FIG. 5, the information agent service 504 also obtainscurrent user context data, including state data 520, to make itsdecision on whether, and if so how and when, to issue a notification towhich device. Such user state data, provided by various context sources522, collectively, is accessed by the information agent service 504 froma context service 524, via a context schema 526. The context schema 526comprises a standard form for representing, storing, updating, andaccessing information about a user's current situation, includingschedule, presence, location, and time-centric profiles or othertime-sensitive situation information. As will be understood, the contextschema 526 may contain parts of one or more of the various schemas531-537 (as well as others) that comprise the context sources 522.

The context sources 522 comprise presence data represented according toa presence schema 531, location data represented according to a locationschema 532, schedule data represented according to a schedule schema533, and people and groups data represented according to a people andgroups schema 534. The context sources 522 also comprise client contextdata represented according to a client context data schema 535, extendedcontext data represented according to an extended-context data schema536, and user state (e.g., sensor) schema 537. The context sources mayalso comprise other data available through other sources and suitableschemas, although this may be accomplished via an extended-contextschema.

In general, the presence schema 531 refers to a standardized data formthat contains attributes about the presence of a user at or near aparticular device. For example, when establishing presence, it is usefulto include notions of physical presence based on interactions with adevice (keyboard, mouse, and so on), and sense proximal activities suchas via proximity and motion detectors. In addition to detection,explicit statements by a user about the user's presence are included, aswell as rules that define what details others can view about a user'spresence, which may be dependent on the identity of each other viewer.Beyond current state, presence information can include information ontemporal proximity for activity. The following table, TABLE 5, providesan example of how a presence schema may be arranged, and the informationthat may be represented thereby: TABLE 5 Presence Schema Outline Explicit setting of shared presence state Activity now at devicesx_(l)..x_(n)  Device availability  User interactions {x} with device <t Ambient acoustics / conversation  Motion sensing Time of sensed lastactivity at device x Availability forecast  Time until resource x  e.g.,Time until current meeting ends   Time will have a 1 hr block open oncalendar   Time until full screen available   Time until videoconferenceavailability

Presence information including an XML formatted .NET Presence schema isalso described in the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/017,680.

The location schema 532 refers to a regularized form for storing dataabout a user's (or device's) location for encoding and sharing locationinformation among components. For example, location information caninclude detailed global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, notions ofa nearest cellular telephone station, or data abstracted to representtypes of general locations tagged to represent key spatial semantics ofan environment, such as the following abstraction of location: in mainoffice, out of office—n-site local, out of office—offsite, at home, incar, traveling-out of town, and so on. Further, the location schemaallows for prediction, e.g., where a user is going to be located at sometime in the future based on a current location plus speed and direction.For example, such prediction information may be used to notify a usertraveling in a car that at a fast food restaurant at the next exit rampis offering a special deal. An example of how a location schema may bearranged and the information that may be represented thereby isrepresented in TABLE 6 below: TABLE 6 Location Schema OutlineLocation-labeled machines   Local position; enterprise abstractions  High precision info: GPS, last gps, active cell station

Location information is also described in the aforementioned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/017,680, which provides an XML formatted .NETLocation schema as in TABLE 7, below: TABLE 7 Location Schema (XML)<m:myLocation changeNumber =“...” instanceId=“...” xmlns:m=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2001/10/myLocation” xmlns:hs=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/hs/2001/10/core”>_(1..1) <m:location changeNumber =“...” id =“...” creator=“...”>_(0..unbounded)   < m:cat ref =“...”>_(0..unbounded)</ m:cat >  <m:address>_(1..1)    < hs:cat ref =“...”>_(0..unbounded)</ hs:cat >   <hs:officialAddressLine xml:lang=“...”   dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:officialAddressLine>    <hs:internalAddressLinexml:lang=“...”    dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:internalAddressLine>   <hs:primaryCity xml:lang=“...” dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:primaryCity>   <hs:secondaryCity xml:lang=“...”   dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:secondaryCity >    <hs:subdivisionxml:lang=“...” dir=“...”>_(0..1)</hs:subdivision>   <hs:postalCode>_(0..1)</hs:postalCode>   <hs:countryCode>_(0..1)</hs:countryCode>   <hs:latitude>_(0..1)</hs:latitude>   <hs:longitude>_(0..1)</hs:longitude>   <hs:elevation>_(0..1)</hs:elevation>    <hs:velocity>_(0..1)    <hs:speed>_(0..1)</hs:speed>    <hs:direction>_(0..1)</hs:direction>    </hs:velocity>   <hs:confidence>_(0..1)</hs:confidence>   <hs:precision>_(0..1)</hs:precision>     {any}   </m:address>  <m:reportingDevice>_(1..1)</m:reportingDevice>   < m:lastUpdateTime>_(1..1)</ m:lastUpdateTime >   < m:expiresAt >_(0..1)</ m:expiresAt >   {any}  </m:location>  <m:subscription changeNumber =“...”   id =“...”creator =“...”>_(0..unbounded)   <hs:trigger select=“...” mode=“...”  baseChangeNumber=“...”>_(1..1)</hs:trigger>  <hs:expiresAt>_(0..1)</hs:expiresAt>   <hs:context uri=“...”>_(1..1){any}</hs:context>   <hs:to>_(1..1)</hs:to>  </m:subscription>  {any}</m:myLocation>

The meaning of the attributes and elements shown in TABLE 7 are setforth below, wherein in the syntax used in the table, boldface typecorresponds to a blue node, and underlined type to a red node, asdescribed above, and the minimum occurrence information (0, 1) indicateswhether an element or attribute is required or optional, and maximumoccurrence information (1, unbounded) indicates whether one or many arepossible.

The /myLocation (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1) element encapsulates thecontent document for the .NET Location service. The/myLocation/@changeNumber (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) changeNumberattribute is designed to facilitate caching of the element and itsdescendants. This attribute is assigned to this element by the .NET MyServices system. The attribute is read-only to applications. Attempts towrite this attribute are silently ignored.

The /myLocation/@instanceId (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) attributeis a unique identifier typically assigned to the root element of aservice. It is a read-only element and assigned by the .NET My Servicessystem when a user is provisioned for a particular service.

The /myLocation/location (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) node has a/myLocation/location/@changeNumber (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)changeNumber attribute, designed to facilitate caching of the elementand its descendants. This attribute is assigned to this element by the.NET My Services system. The attribute is read-only to applications.Attempts to write this attribute are silently ignored.

The /myLocation/location/@id (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) attribute is aglobally unique ID assigned to this element by .NET My Services.Normally, .NET My Services will generate and assign this ID during aninsertRequest operation, or possibly during a replaceRequest.Application software can override this ID generation by specifying theuseClientIds attribute in the request message. Once an ID is assigned,the attribute is read-only and attempts to write it are silentlyignored.

The /myLocation/location/@creator (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)attribute identifies the creator in terms of userId, appId, andplatformId of the node.

The /myLocation/location/cat (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) elementis used to categorize the element that contains it by referencing aglobal category definition in either the .NET Categories service systemdocument or an external resource containing category definitions, or byreferencing an identity centric category definition in the contentdocument of the .NET Categories service for a particular puid.

The /myLocation/location/cat/@ref (anyURI minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)attribute references a category definition (<catDef/>) element using therules outlined in the myCategories section, described above.

The /myLocation/address/officialAddressLine (string minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) element contains the most precise, official line for theaddress relative to the postal agency servicing the area specified bythe city(s)/postalCode. When parsing an address for official postalusage, this element contains the official, parsable address line thatthe regional postal system cares about. Typical usage of this elementwould be to enclose a street address, post office box address, privatebag, or any other similar official address. Internal routing informationlike department name, suite number within a building, internal mailstopnumber, or similar properties should be placed within theinternalAddressLine element. The/myLocation/address/officialAddressLine/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify an ISO 639 languagecode or an ISO 3166 country code as described in RFC 1766. The value ofthis attribute indicates the language type of the content within thiselement. The /myLocation/address/officialAddressLine/@dir (stringminOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layoutdirection for the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right toleft), and ltr (left to right).

The /myLocation/address/internalAddressLine (string minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) element contains internal routing information relative tothe address specified by the officialAddressLine. Items like departmentname, suite number within a building, internal mailstop number, orsimilar properties should be placed within this element. The/myLocation/address/internalAddressLine/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify an ISO 639 languagecode or an ISO 3166 country code as described in RFC 1766. The value ofthis attribute indicates the language type of the content within thiselement. The /myLocation/address/internalAddressLine/@dir (stringminOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layoutdirection for the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right toleft), and ltr (left to right).

The /myLocation/address/primaryCity (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)element defines the primary city for this address. The/myLocation/address/primaryCity/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=1)required attribute is used to specify an ISO 639 language code or an ISO3166 country code as described in RFC 1766. The value of this attributeindicates the language type of the content within this element. The/myLocation/address/primaryCity/@dir (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)optional attribute specifies the default layout direction for thelocalized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left), and ltr (left toright).

The /myLocation/address/secondaryCity (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=)optional element defines the secondary city for this address. Exampletypes for this element include city district, city wards, postal towns,and so on. The /myLocation/address/secondaryCity/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify an ISO 639 languagecode or an ISO 3166 country code as described in RFC 1766. The value ofthis attribute indicates the language type of the content within thiselement. The /myLocation/address/secondaryCity/@dir (string minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layout directionfor the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left), and ltr(left to right).

The /myLocation/address/subdivision (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)element contains the official subdivision name within the country orregion for this address. In the United States, this element wouldcontain the two letter abbreviation for the name of the state. Thiselement is also commonly treated as the “first order admin subdivision”and will typically contain subdivision names referring to administrativedivision, Bundesstaat, canton, federal district, province, region, stateor territory. The /myLocation/address/subdivision/@xml:lang (minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) required attribute is used to specify an ISO 639 languagecode or an ISO 3166 country code as described in RFC 1766. The value ofthis attribute indicates the language type of the content within thiselement. The /myLocation/address/subdivision/@dir (string minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional attribute specifies the default layout directionfor the localized string. Valid values are rtl (right to left), and ltr(left to right).

The /myLocation/address/postalCode (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)element contains the official postal code for this address. The/myLocation/address/countryCode (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementcontains the 2 letter ISO-3166 id of the country, dependency, orfunctionally equivalent region for this address. The/myLocation/address/latitude (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the latitude value for this address in units of decimaldegrees. Geodetic datum WGS84 is required. The/myLocation/address/longitude (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the longitude value for this address in units of decimaldegrees. Geodetic datum WGS84 is required. The/myLocation/address/elevation (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the elevation above sea level with respect to WGS84 geodeticdatum. The units for this value is meters.

The /myLocation/address/velocity (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the last reported velocity associated with this address. Ofcourse, for fixed addresses the velocity node would either not bepresent, or speed would be zero indication stationary position. The/myLocation/address/velocity/speed (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1)element specifies the last known speed associated with this report inunits of meters per second. The /myLocation/address/velocity/direction(string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) element specifies the last knowndirection associated with this report in units of degrees decimal. The/myLocation/address/confidence (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies a percentage value that indicates the confidence value thatthis location is accurate within the specified precision. The/myLocation/address/precision (string minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=1) elementspecifies the precision in meters of this location. The value defines aspherical zone that the location falls within.

The /myLocation/location/address/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded)allows for address-related extensibility.

The /myLocation/location/reportingDevice (anyURI minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element contains the device name of the device supplyingthis location information. The name is encoded as a URI. One commonformat for this name is a uuid: scheme uri interpreted as a “UniversalDevice Number” as exposed by a Universal Plug and Play infrastructure.

The /myLocation/location/lastUpdateTime (dateTime minOccurs=1maxOccurs=1) element specifies the last update time of this locationreport. The /myLocation/location/expiresAt (dateTime minOccurs=0maxOccurs=1) optional element specifies the time after which thislocation report is considered expires. The system is free to deleteexpired elements on its own schedule.

The /myLocation/location/{any} (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) fieldallows for location-related extensibility.

The /myLocation/subscription (minOccurs=0 maxOccurs=unbounded) elementdefines a subscription node as described above in the subscriptionsection.

As also represented in FIG. 5, the schedule schema 533 refers to astandard representation of information about different types ofappointments, and for encoding recurrent periods of time andabstractions about the location, situation, and overall informationalcontext associated different named periods of time. For example, a usermay wish to assert a period of recurrence such that 8 am-6 pm onweekdays is considered by default to be a work context, and other timesto considered by default to be a home context. A schedule schemarepresentation allows for the encoding of appointments, tagged withseveral key properties such as meeting type (selected from an ontologyof meeting types), number of attendees, location of meeting, meetingorganizer, and with an interruptability level associated with differentappointments or appointment types, and/or other meeting properties. Anexample of how a schedule schema may be arranged and the informationthat may be represented thereby is represented in TABLE 8 below: TABLE 8Schedule Schema Outline Recurrent contexts (e.g., work, home)  Days,time of day, time periods Special extended contexts (e.g., vacation) Start time, end time, internal structure Appointments  Title  Type,event uid, registration  Participants  Start, Finish  Location Preferred reminder, alerting  Interruptability   Scalar value, or byproperties of allowed messages: message types,   message ID, info value,and the like.

It should be noted that the calendar schema described in theaforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/017,680, generallycan be used for providing some or all of the same information, as thecalendar schema includes representations of appointment data,recurrence, and so forth. Thus, as used herein, the term “schedule” isessentially interchangeable with “calendar,” such as with respect to auser's context including schedule or calendar data being used by Theinformation agent service 504 to make notification determinations.

The people and groups schema 534 captures information about a user'sabstractions about other people, with a focus on different groupings ofpeople and their properties. For example, the author of a message is oneaspect for routing and reviewing of email, whereby people and people ofgroup authentication are leveraged in an information service. Groups arelabeled sets of people, including explicit group assembled by hand, andthose that are composed implicitly by reference to relationships,co-location, or activities. Implicit groups include groups built byreference, e.g., “my direct reports,” “all people down the managementchain from me in my organization,” and so on. Dynamic groups includegroups built by watching activity and examining assets. For example, adynamic group may include “people I am meeting with today,” such thatnotifications from those individuals may have a higher priority thanthey ordinarily would, e.g., their calls will be allowed to get throughinstead of routed to voicemail. An example of how a people and groupsschema may be arranged and the information that may be representedthereby is represented in TABLE 9 below: TABLE 9 People and GroupsSchema Outline People (properties) Groups (properties)  Explicit groups(membership)  Group by relation (membership by org. relation)  Dynamicgroups   (membership identified dynamically by state, action, sharedproject,   e.g., people who I am meeting with today-per schedule)

A client computing context schema 535 captures registered contextualevents that characterize a user's activities, interactions with acomputer's operating system, and software applications being used. Forexample, the state of an application, such as when the application ismaximized to full screen on a display, is a useful state to consider inthe client notification policy, and in policy preferences. In general,users may be provided with a means for linking software usage andmodalities to contexts, and thus make notification policies sensitive todifferent computing contexts. In one approach, users may select from alist of software applications and key contextual modes of theapplications, and then to link the special modes of the softwareapplications to different policies regarding the handling ofnotifications. To extend this example, a user may wish to encodepreferences used by a local device notification manager or a more globalinformation agent that notifications that have less than theuser-defined level of urgency should never interrupt an Microsoft®Powerpoint® presentation when Powerpoint® is sensed to be inpresentation mode—and that the notification should either be deferredfor some time that is some inverse function of its urgency, orjournalled for later. Additional applications and modes, as well asother potentially sensed computer activities, may be added to groups ofapplications, where each group represents a different kind ofinterruptability, each associated with different policies for handlingnotifications. In general, one or more such specialized schemas may beprovided for encoding information about context that is registered andtracked on a client machine. An example of how one such client computercontext schema may be arranged and some of the information that may berepresented thereby is represented in TABLE 10 below: TABLE 10 ClientComputer Context Schema Outline   Sensed state type class, state values,stateID    e.g., Application (e.g., PptXP2.1, Presentmode,winapoffpt.4182)      System Composed event (e.g., temporal pattern userevents)

The extended-context schema 536 captures information about the nature,states, and semantics associated with new sources of contextualinformation that a user wishes to integrate into an information service.For example, a user may wish to add a conversation detector via astandard interface. Other examples include adding situations, sensors,and sensed states, and passing through a conditioning statement to thepreferences schema and/or notification schema. An example of how anextended-context schema may be arranged and the information that may berepresented thereby is represented in TABLE 11 below: TABLE 11 ExtendedContext Schema Outline Sensed state type class, state values, stateID e.g.,   Schedule   Perceptual (Acoustic, Vision, Motion, Proximity)  Integration   Interface type   Connection

One or more other user state sensor schemas 537 may be provided tosupply additional user state information. As can be appreciated,numerous other schemas and/or ways of providing regularized contextinformation to the information agent service 504 are easily integratedinto the notification platform 500.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the information sources,following any of their own filtering operations, provide notificationsvia a regularized notification schema 506, (e.g., formatted as an XMLdocument fragment) to the information agent service 504. The informationagent service 504 determines whether to forward the notification to auser device 508 ₁-508 _(n) (or devices), based on criteria includinguser preference information and the current context of the user. Again,this information is preferably sent to the information agent service 504via document fragments or the like regularized according to preferenceand context schemas, 516 and 524, respectively. The information agentservice 504 can store the information in a journal 540 for laterdelivery, and/or communicate the information to a user device,preferably in a messaged formatted in accordance with a regularizeddevice schema 510.

The information agent service 504 thus determines whether to output anotification as a function of context and content, along with userpreferences and/or other notification policies. By determining a user'scontext as needed, the information agent service 504 can handle a user'schanging context. Further, the information agent service 504 is able toexpress value based on conditional context, and work with simple Booleanexpressions such as AND/OR/NOT, e.g.:myCalendar:/myCalendar/today[@time] = ‘Important meeting’myLocation:/electronic/endpoint[@name=“Messenger”]/lastUpdate[@ value >30 min < 90 min].

The information agent service 504 may operate by simple rule-basedpolicies, and/or by numerical analysis, such as a cost-benefit-basedanalysis, where numerical representations of the value of reviewinginformation and the cost of disruption are considered based on contentand context. Such cost-benefit analyses include the use ofdecision-analytic methods for making communication or notificationdecisions under uncertainty in context and content based onobservations.

As an example of a simple rule-based policy, a simple rule such as, “ifa user is not at his desk during work hours, send the notification tothe user's pager” may be used. A more complex policy system may be basedon numerical values such as a numerical representation of the cost ofdelayed review of an item and the cost of disruption in differentsituations by different kinds of alerting modalities. For example, ahighly urgent message may have a cost of delayed review that exceeds thecost of disruption that the user has set for the current context, or theuser has had computed therefor (e.g., based on context and/or preferencedata), below which the user does not want to be interrupted. In otherwords, the information agent can essentially determine whether the costof delayed review is greater than the cost of disruption associated withgetting the alert in different ways, and if this is the case select themethod and device (or multiple devices) with the greatest net value. Forexample, a user may set a value on a cellular telephone so that thecellular telephone will not ring unless a notification was at a level ofurgency (e.g., associated with a cost of delayed review) assigned toemergency communications, or the user's boss is calling. The value canchange over time or due to other factors, e.g., the level may drop aftersome length of time to let other calls get through, as determined by aspecified function, as described above. In more sophisticated analyses,the uncertainties in the current context, in the nature of the content,and in such variables as the reliability that a user will receivedifferent kinds of alerts, and the times a user will see a message—bothwith and without—the notification, can be considered with decisionanalysis in a smart information decision making system, that selectsactions in accordance with the maximization of the expected value of thenotification action. As an example, a system may assign urgency measuresto incoming voicemail based on an automated prosady analysis of thevoicemail messages, potentially coupled with word- and phrase-spottinganalyses based on speech-to-text processing. Such an analysis may beused to rank-order voicemail as well as to guide decision making aboutthe transmission of alerts about the voicemail and the transmission andcaching of the voicemail itself on portable digital devices. Theautomated assignment of urgency to the voicemail content can beuncertain, based on the reliability of a classifier. Thus, aninformation agent might consider the probability distribution over theurgency and compose such notions as the expected value of the urgency ofvoicemail in considering whether to alert the user and/or download thecontent of the voicemail to a user's device. There may also beuncertainty about the context of the user, e.g., whether or not the useris engaged in a regular meeting or is giving a presentation, givenambiguity in the current calendar entry, and on observations about auser's location and acoustical context. Such uncertainties can beconsidered in a decision analysis that selects alerting and routing in amanner than maximizes a measure or estimation of net expected value tothe user, based on preferences and observations.

Turning to FIG. 7, there is shown the notification platform 500 withadditional details of one of the information sources (e.g., 502 ₁) andof one of the client/user devices (e.g., 508 ₂). As represented in FIG.7, a client subscribes to an information service, which may be virtuallyany provider of information, e.g., a third party financial institution.To this end, a unified user interface information manager 702 enablesthe client device 508 ₂ to subscribe to the information source, via aclient device subscription mechanism 704 and information sourcesubscription mechanism 706. Note that a subscription is preferably user(identity) based, not device based, such that client is not limited toreceiving notifications only on the device that is presently using theunified user interface information manager 702. For example, a user mayuse a client personal computer to subscribe for notifications, which maybe received by the client's cellular telephone client device.

As also mentioned above, the information source may do some of its ownpre-filtering operations. To this end, the user preferences 514 may havea link to the information source's subscription mechanism 706, via whichthe user may edit the user's preference store 503 ₁ (and otherpreference stores on other information sources) from a single accesspoint. Of course, other ways of providing the user with access to theuser's preference store 503 ₁ are feasible. The information source 502 ₁may include its own user interface (UI) code 708, for controlling itsoperations, along with internal policies 710. For example, aninformation source policy may be set up by an administrator or the liketo not output more than one notification per minute to a user,regardless of what the user specifies.

The client device (e.g., 508 ₂) may also include local device policydata 712 that may override notification decisions made by theinformation agent service 504 on its behalf, based on the userpreferences and user context (state). For example, a user may set up a“receive text only” policy on a device when entering a theater so thatregardless of what the information agent service 504 sends, the userwill not be audibly disturbed.

FIG. 8 represents local components in a device (e.g., 508 ₂) interactingwith various external components. In general, the local device 508 ₂includes components that operate somewhat similarly to those in thenotification platform. For example, in addition to the devicesubscription mechanism 704 and local device policy specification andstore 712 described above, in one implementation the local device 508 ₂includes a local notification manager 802 that takes inputs from anumber of sources in order to control the output of notifications on thelocal device 508 ₂. Further, the local device 508 ₂ has local UIcontrols 806 in a local instance 702 _(L) of the unified UI informationmanager 702. Via the local UI, the local device 508 ₂ may store localpreferences 808 and export notification preferences 516 to theinformation agent service 504 (as well as to the information sources, asdescribed above). The notification manager can use these localpreferences in its determination as to whether and how to output anotification on local UI alerting modalities 810 ₁-810 _(i), and/orpreserve a notification in a local store 812. Context information in theform of local states 816 or the like may also be provided to the localdevice where it may be used by a local context service 818.

Local information sources 820 ₁-820 j, each including an informationsource subscription mechanism 822 ₁-822 j, may provide localnotifications that are handled in a similar manner. More particularly,the local notification manager 802 may receive local notifications orexternally provided notifications, and uses local policies, localcontext, and/or local preferences to determine whether, and if so howand when, to output the notifications. In this manner, the device isultimately in charge of notification output corresponding to receivednotifications, from the device subscription manager 704, as well asnotifications from any local information sources and uses any localpolicies to handle outputting of the notification.

As can be seen, there is provided a notification platform that providesnotifications from information sources to client devices based on auser's preferences and context, including presence information, locationinformation, and schedule information. The information that iscommunicated between the various services and components is regularizedby formatting the exchanged data according to schemas. The platform andschemas are extensible, and for example, allow new sensors and sensedstates about a user's context to be added to a notification service.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof areshown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It shouldbe understood, however, that there is no intention to limit theinvention to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, andequivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. In a computer network having an information source and a device setcomprising at least one client device configured to receivenotifications, a system comprising, an information agent service thatreceives a notification from the information source directed to aclient, the notification comprising data regularized in accordance witha notification schema, the information service accessing client criteriato determine conditions for communicating the notification to the clientand communicating the notification to at least one client device of thedevice set based on the conditions.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein thedevice set comprises a plurality of devices, and wherein the informationagent determines a selected device of the set to send the notificationto based on the client criteria.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theinformation agent accesses device data corresponding to the selecteddevice, and modifies data in the notification to match the device dataof the selected device.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the clientcriteria comprises at least one item of a set, the set containing,client presence data regularized according to a presence schema, clientlocation data regularized according to a location schema, clientschedule data regularized according to a schedule schema, people andgroups data regularized according to a people and groups schema,extended context data regularized according to an extended contextschema, and client computing context data regularized according to aclient computing context schema.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein thedevice receives the message, and further comprising a local devicepolicy and a local notification manager, the local notification managerdetermining whether to output the notification based on the local devicepolicy and metadata of the notification.
 6. The system of claim 1wherein the client criteria comprises client preference informationregularized according to a preference schema.
 7. The system of claim 6wherein the client preference information comprises source preferenceinformation accessible to the information source and/or main preferenceinformation accessible to the information agent service.
 8. The systemof claim 7 wherein the information agent service modifies data of thenotification based on the main client preference information.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the client criteria comprises source clientpreference information regularized according to a source preferenceschema for access by the information source, and/or main clientpreference information regularized according to a main preference schemafor access by the information agent service, and wherein the informationsource sets notification data based on the source client preferenceinformation and the information agent service modifies the notificationdata based on the main client preference information.
 10. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the client criteria comprises source client preferenceinformation regularized according to a source preference schema foraccess by the information source, and main client preference informationregularized according to a main preference schema for access by theinformation agent service, and further comprising, a subscriptionprocess configured to enable editing of the source preferenceinformation via a pointer or path from the main client preferenceinformation.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the notificationcomprises at least one item of a set, the set containing, an independentmessage emitted by the information source, a message emitted by theinformation source that accompanies other communicated data.
 12. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the notification includes information aboutpreferences for rendering of content, preferences for renderingdifferent approximations of the content, content to be renderedcomprising multiple components, and/or content to be rendered comprisingmultiple types of information
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein thenotification includes fidelity information corresponding to the contentto be rendered.
 14. The system of claim 1 wherein the notificationincludes encoded preferences with respect to content in the notificationfor different devices that may handle the rendering of the content,and/or information about the ability to render and the fidelity ofrendering needed by devices.
 15. The system of claim 1 wherein theinformation agent service modifies the notification based on theinformation in the notification with respect to a capability of thedevice to render content.
 16. The system of claim 1 wherein thenotification comprises a subset of the total notification data that thenotification schema is capable of representing.
 17. At least onecomputer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, whichwhen executed perform a method, comprising: receiving at an informationagent service a notification from the information source directed to aclient, the notification comprising data regularized in accordance witha notification schema, accessing client criteria to determine conditionsfor communicating the notification to the client; and communicating thenotification to at least one client device of a device set based on theconditions.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 whereincommunicating the notification to at least one client device of a deviceset based on the conditions comprises modifying the notification basedon a capability of the device to render content.
 19. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the device receives themessage, and further comprising determining at the device whether tooutput the notification based on a local device policy and metadata ofthe notification.
 20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 whereinthe client criteria comprises source client preference informationregularized according to a source preference schema for access by theinformation source, and/or main client preference informationregularized according to a main preference schema for access by theinformation agent service, and wherein the information source setsnotification data based on the source client preference information andthe information agent service modifies the notification data based onthe main client preference information.